Development and Identity as Grounds of Contestation: An understanding of Insurgency in the Northeast

Development and identity form pretexts for conflict in Assam. The understanding of the nature of these two processes and the way they interact play an important role in determining the cause of the conflict in Assam. The processes of both development and ethnicity create dynamics of contestation and negotiations between the various stakeholders-the state/government officials, the militants and the common people/citizens. This paper explores and envisages the reasons to the inception and sustenance of movements in Assam as if these movements were more than just constructed struggles for a particular end. Movements however have been a continuum in the North east of a never ending phase which is not tied to an ideology of replacing the government but disrupting the current institutions and structures without any clear agenda and objectives of their own. The routine episodes of contentious politics in Assam highlight the weaknesses of the governance structures in Assam as breeding grounds for insurgencies.