Description

About The Book

In India’s political map, Assam and its neighbouring states are located on the eastern edge of the country. Still, we call this group of states “North-East India.” Why don’t we call it East India? Similarly, historical narratives of our partition of the late 1940s speak only about Bengal in the East and Punjab in the West. But there are hardly any mentions of the partitions of Assam Province and the Princely State of Tripura, where India also lost its territories to Pakistan. Why is it so? Besides, this book seeks to focus on many such lesser-known stories, challenging the conventional perceptions of the region. It questions the usual understandings about this region and invites you to see it in a new light. For instance, Assam was a Bengali majority Province, ab initio, from 1874 up to the partition of Assam in 1947 but hardly anyone mentions it. Significantly, this is a remote part of our country, connected to the rest of India by a narrow strip of land called the Siliguri corridor, only about 20 to 22 KM at the narrowest part, in West Bengal. It renders the region both fragile and special. Because of this delicate connection, we need to embrace all the people of North-East India more closely for resolute amity, stronger unity, and highest integrity, which will make us a sturdier nation.