Nationalist Project and Ethnic Response in Post Colonial Assam

Abstract

Recently a link is increasingly being drawn between the nation building process and the ethnic assertion to explain the ethnic movement in the post colonial societies. Similar framework of analysis can also be applied to understand the ethnic assertion in post colonial Assam. The nationalist project of Assam because of its partial and exclusive nature, it is argued, has led to the marginalization of ethnic groups of Assam. As a result they have expressed strong resentment against the nationalist project of Assam and have come up with a set of demands to protect their interests. In view of this the present paper seeks to examine the nature of nation building process and to explore the link between such nation building process and ethnic assertion in Assam. This paper argues that such ethnic assertion has raised serious question on the desirability of nation state model in multi-ethnic societies like Assam.