Many would not write about this but some constituencies in Karbi Anglong have become areas that have been turned into different kind of militancy. There is an imminent threat of Bongo Sena, a Hindu Bengali insurgent force, allegedly trained by Indian agencies, that has been demanding a separate Bengali state comprising of parts of sixth scheduled or tribal areas in older Cachar and the present day Karbi Anglong. Sections of RSS in Assam as well as Barak support Bongo Sena, who are actively pushing out indigenous tribal people from places like Bokajan and Howraghat. During the movement against Assam Government's illegal bid to take over 18000 Bighas of tribal land for solar power in 2024, Karbi elders from Bokajan constituency pointed out to a counter protest in Bokajan where a few non-Karbi/non-tribal traders took out marches in support of the Solar power plant. He told me that many of these counter protestors were members of Bongo Sena, who also work with local BJP units and are largely anti-Karbi.

A total of 7184 acres in Karbi Anglong's Professional and Village Grazing Reserve have been encroached by non-Karbi particularly from Bihar and Bengal. The demand for eviction is directly connected to the inclusion of non-Karbi in the electoral rolls. While for rest of India, SIR was used to delete voters from the electoral rolls, many in Assam fear that the ongoing special revision of voter rolls, barely three months before elections, was aimed at adding more voters to the electoral rolls. Election Commissioner for Assam, Anuraag Goel made it absolutely perspicuous that people who have recently migrated to Assam could transfer their vote to the state. That includes even those who are staying in scheduled areas.

Even at the conceptual stage, this moves to influence local democratic processes by an organization like Election Commission sounds banal. It goes against the constitutional promise of sixth schedule. The tragic part is that Indian state has already turned these concepts into reality. The Indian state continues to shy away from full implementation of Article 244 A to create an autonomous state of Karbi Anglong even as Gauhati High Court is yet to pronounce a verdict on the Karbi's right to prepare their own electoral rolls. It is unfortunate that only after Tuliram Ronghang's house was set on fire, we are discussing this. The design to create enmity and disturb the peace in Karbi Anglong is a long cherished dream of a section of India intelligence and business houses but the price of this had to be paid by a Karbi leader. But before I offer any sympathy to Ronghang, one must note that the CEM himself has issued death threats to many honest and hardworking Karbi. Ronghang owns vast tracts of land with tea gardens and rubber plantation across the autonomous council area. One elder told me that Karbis have not seen someone as corrupt as Tuliram in their lifetime.

People have been really tolerant towards mainland Indians who have sitting on land in the sixth schedule areas for decades. Earlier in November, a section of non-tribal, Hindi speaking community in Diphu, the district headquarter, suddenly demanded separate crematoriums for their community. A local Marwari trader championing the cause for seperate crematoriums, after years of cremating his relatives along side Karbi, now had the gall to say - ye log to non veg hai, inka alag se kriya karm hona chahiye (They eat non veg, they should be cremated separately).

Indian media houses might have perceived the 'threat' of Karbi protestors as some indication of a pogrom that is to come. A section of journalists wait for pogroms to happen and if it happens in Northeast, it is a sure shot path to their own success of winning some accolades. Yes, there are concentitious journalists and writers too from Assam and Karbi Anglong who have warned about this situation. An account of Bongo Sena's activities was first captured in Amar Asom by Ankur Tamuliphukan, Gaurav Rajkhowa and others. Local dailies from Karbi Anglong have reported from time to time about Mukesh Ambani's plans to construct a CBG plant over 4000 acres in Western Karbi Anglong. The Western Karbi Anglong is where CEM Ronghang's house was set on fire. Also to be noted, the Assam Land Struggle Committee has estimated that close to 1.5 lakh Bighas of this autonomous council is being diverted to corporations like Patanjali and Godrej (for oil palm). Many Karbis I spoke to are unwilling to part with their jhum khetis and rich undulated lands with rich biodiversity to work on any of these industrial projects. People recently settled in PGR and VGR would.

So then the questions arise - who would work in these industrial areas? Would it not be these settlers on PGR and VGR? Or even the recently inducted Bongo Sena member? Who would decide where the next parcel of Karbi land, the sixth schedule land, be diverted to? If an industry comes up in my neighborhood and I do not own any agricultural land, would I not vote for industry?

I hope Indian agencies pay attention to the plight of the Karbi people and call for a reasonable and a peaceful solution