KOKRAJHAR: A confidential and extraordinarily honest appraisal by the Assam police in a document meant for internal circulation, a copy of which is with the TOI, says, among other things, that junior police officers were unable and unwilling to take action when required, the seniors, too, were loath to take responsibility for the lapses.

The secret paper, called “Brief on communal clash’, and with the insignia of the Assam police on its opening page, says in a section titled ‘Learning from the incident’ that there was “reluctance of cutting edge (meaning cops at the junior level closest to the ground) in taking firm and decisive action”.

It says there was “fear of cutting edge to take prompt action”. This is something that happens often during communal clashes when cops, for fear of political reprisal, allow the situation to deteriorate so much that any action taken thereafter seems late.

The report makes a case for deployment of more police personnel and says a large part of the problem lies in the pathetic manpower at their disposal. In Kokrajhar, it says it needs 4 new police stations and 5 additional outposts. There is also a plea for 40 prefabricated barracks for “platoon strength” and 10 for “company strength”.

It says it needs 8 deputy SPs, 75 sub-inspectors, 150 male and 50 female constables. The police-population ratio stands at a measly 79 per lakh. They also want 120 light motor vehicles, 75 medium and 15 heavy motor vehicles, and 100 motorbikes to cover an area that is 2,700 sq km of both plains and hills.

The report gives a demographic break-up that shows Bodos at 3.10 lakh (30%) and Muslims at 2.36 lakh (25.15%): something the tribals have been repeatedly pointing out as a cause for worry and evidence that illegal migration from Bangladesh into Bodo areas are happening unabated.

Deputy chief of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Kampa Borgoyari mentions how in the last census the Muslim population, of largely Bengali-speaking people, stood at 15%. But this is so sensitive and can have such political repercussions that the Assam government steadfastly chooses to maintain silence over it, refusing to go into any details.

Of the nearly 10.50 lakh people in the district, the Rajbonshis account for 1.65 lakh, the adivasis 1.86 lakh and others, mainly Nepalis and Bengalis, another 1.33 lakh, making a deadly cauldron of conflicting interests and a present marred by a tumultuous, dark history. Since 1993 alone there have been 7 major communal clashes in Kokrajhar involving adivasis, Bodos, Muslims and others. While 61 were killed in ’93, according to police records, it was 113 in ’94, 198 in ’96, 186 in ’98, and close to 80 now.

It is also not just a fight for land that is at the heart of repeated skirmishes and unrelenting unease in these parts. The BTAD (Bodoland Territorial Area Districts), also called BTC, was formed on February 10, 2003 after years of bloody struggle launched by the Bodos for a separate homeland. But now, the police report says, there is “acute feeling among non-Bodos that their socio-economic-political issues are not being addressed properly”. And that there is a “feeling of apathy by the present BTC leadership towards the non-Bodo populace”.

Of course, there is also continued tension among the various communities regarding encroachment of forest land – 71,988 hectares by the police’s reckoning – but what is of the greatest concern to the administration here is the growing and strident involvement of outfits like the All Bodoland Minority Student Union and the Assam Minority Students Union in agitational politics in BTC areas. As a home ministry report says, some extremist groups are already looking to fish in troubled waters. That for a region which has just come out of a debilitating and years-long fight for identity and space is not good news.