Nellie massacre
| Nellie Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Assam, India |
| Date | 18 February 1983 |
| Target | Bengali Muslim |
|
Attack type
|
Deportation, mass murder |
| Deaths | 2191 |
Coordinates: 26°06′41″N 92°19′02″E / 26.111483°N 92.317253°E
The Nellie massacre took place in central Assam during a six-hour period in the morning of 18 February 1983. Although the involvement of members of mainstream Assamese communities and lower castes in carrying out the massacre is commonly evoked, the identities of the rioters are debated by scholars. The massacre claimed the lives of 2,191 people (unofficial figures run at more than 10,000) from 14 villages—Alisingha, Khulapathar, Basundhari, Bugduba Beel, Bugduba Habi, Borjola, Butuni, Indurmari, Mati Parbat, Muladhari, Mati Parbat no. 8, Silbheta, Borburi and Nellie—of Nagaon district. The victims were East Bengal rooted Muslims whose ancestors had relocated in pre-partition British India. Three media personnel — Hemendra Narayan of Indian Express, Bedabrata Lahkar of Assam Tribune and Sharma of ABC — were witnesses to the massacre. The victims were descendants of Muslims who came to Assam on the direct patronage of the then Assam Government of British India in the first decade of the 20th century.
The violence that took place in Nellie was seen as a fallout of the decision to hold the controversial state elections in 1983 in the midst of the Assam Agitation, after Indira Gandhi's decision to give 4 million immigrants from Bangladesh the right to vote. It has been described as one of the worst pogroms since World War II.
A documentary, What the Fields Remember, has been produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust.
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