2012 Assam violence

2012 Assam violence
The violence took place in districts of Kokrajhar (top left, coloured red), Dhubri (bottom left, coloured red) and Chirang (formed out of parts of Bongaigaon (top right, coloured pink)).
Location	Assam, India
Date	20 July 2012 (2012-07-20) – 15 September 2012 (2012-09-15)
Attack type	Ethnic-communal clashes between Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslims
Deaths	77 (as of 8 August 2012)

In July 2012, violence in the Indian state of Assam broke out with riots between indigenous Bodos and migrant Bengali speaking Muslims. The first incident was reported to have taken place on 20 July 2012. As of 8 August 2012, 77 people had died and over 400,000 people were taking shelter in 270 relief camps, after being displaced from almost 400 villages. Eleven people have been reported missing.

On 27 July 2012, Assam's Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi blamed the UPA led national government for a "delay in army deployment to riot-hit areas". The next day, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh visited the relief camps in Kokrajhar and called the recent violence a blot on the face of India. Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram visited the state on Monday, 30 July to review the security situation and the relief and rehabilitation measures being taken.

Lok Sabha member from Bodoland, Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary blamed illegal immigration for the violence in the state. The Election Commissioner of India, H.S. Brahma, said that of the 27 districts in Assam, 11 of them will be shown to have a Muslim majority when the 2011 census figures are published. Singh was criticised for not dealing with the flood of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. A fraudster posing as a scholar had asserted that the flooding of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh was a myth.

The violence and exodus of thousands of people from Northeast India reportedly led to a series of incessant protests in Assam, at multiple locations, during the months of August–September. The protesters' main demand was expeditious detection and deportation of illegal infiltrators from Assam. On 15 September, at a convention of non-political tribal groups, organisations representing Bodo, Dimasa, Tiwa, Deuri, Karbi, Garo, Rabha, Sonowal Kacharis and other tribal communities decided to form a coordination committee for the cause. The tribal leaders said that illegal immigration has threatened the existence, right to land and resources to all indigenous people of the entire state, and it was not limited to Bodoland alone.