Assam-mizoram: A systemic breakdown

On Monday, Assam and Mizoram clashed over a disputed boundary. Five policemen and one civilian (all from Assam) were killed and 50 others were injured. The bloodiest-ever incident between the two states was the culmination of the discontent that had been simmering since 2020 over incidents of violence and Assam’s residents blocking NH-306, the lifeline to Mizoram, for 12 days.

Mizoram has accused Assam Police of entering its territory, indulging in violence, and claimed that it only retaliated after tear gas canisters and grenades were hurled by Assam’s forces. Assam has blamed Mizoram for breaching existing agreements and status quo, and accused the Mizoram Police of firing on its forces and civilians using light machine guns. A clash of this nature between two states represents a constitutional breakdown. And the fact that the clash played out on Twitter, with chief ministers of both states sparring and urging home minister Amit Shah to intervene, represents a political and institutional failure. Mizoram’s border dispute with Assam goes back to 1972 when the former was first carved out as a Union Territory (it became a state in 1987). Assam also has border disputes with Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. With states in the region either ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments or, as in the case of Mizoram, by constituents of the North East Democratic Alliance, a Bjp-led platform, there were expectations that the issues would get resolved. Monday is a wake-up call for the Centre and the states in the region.