Movements against outsiders:

♤ Large scale migration into north-east gave rise to a special kind of problem that

pitted ‘local’ communities against people who were seen as ‘outsiders’ or migrants.

♤ These latecomers are seen as encroachers on scarce resources.

♤ The Assam Movement from 1979 to 1985 led by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) is best example of such movements against ‘outsiders’. Assamese suspected that there were huge numbers of illegal Bengali Muslim settlers from Bangladesh. Problem of immigration has remained a political issue which is reflected in frequent clashes in Assam.

♤ Sme feeling informs the hostility of local population to Chakma refugees in