ABSTRACT
The tensions between the states and the union are a constant in the Indian system where the federalist, not to speak of autonomist, separatist, disintegrationist and secessionist tendencies, have always been in contention with the unitary, centralizing tendencies. Other varieties of separatist assertion explicitly seeking sovereignty have emerged from within communities who are in no way peripheral communities in terms of their language, religion, caste and ethnicity; they are very much part of the pan-Indian nationalist assertion that animated the freedom movement. What is less obvious is whether the trajectory of the Bodo separatist identity articulation and assertion will allure and inspire as a model to other far more modest separatist identity affirmations, of which there seem to be no end; and whether they will take a similar direction, driven by sovereignty rhetoric to violence and despair. For the sake of convenience, this chapter uses the term ‘separatist’ throughout to qualify these movements though some of them are potentially secessionist.
