• ETHNO-LINGUISTIC CRISIS IN THE BARAK VALLEY & STUDENT ACTIVISM: A CASE STUDY OF LANGUAGE MOVEMENT OF 1986: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Dr. Swarupa Bhattacharjee,

Abstract: Barak Valley comprising three districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj is strategically located in the southernmost part of Assam, India. But in spite of its strategic location, Barak valley remained underdeveloped in socio- economic and academic spheres since the dawn of the independence of the country. The State government was all along alleged to have remained indifferent so far as maintaining the linguistic and cultural distinctiveness as well as the development issue of the valley was concerned. This attitude of the government towards the region enraged the people at large who have a long tradition of struggle for the sake of preservation of language and culture. This urge for preservation of linguistic identity of the people of this valley reached its climax in the language movements of 1961, 1972 and in 1986. Interestingly, in all these movements, students at large acted as one of the main pressure groups in Barak Valley to compel the Government of Assam not to accept the demands of the Brahmaputra Valley towards making Assamese as the only state language in Assam. The present article will try to throw light on the ethno-linguistic crisis of the Barak valley with reference to the language movement of 1986 which had a great impact in shaping the socio-political history of the region at large and the role of the students in mobilising the movement into a mass movement in Barak Valley.