Guwahati: A seminar organised on Sunday by The Crosscurrent at Hotel Apollo Grand has revived public discussion on the long-suppressed Tiwari Commission Report on the 1983 Assam disturbances, following its recent disclosure under the Right to Information Act. This marks the first open discourse on the report since its release.
The panel featured former Arunachal Pradesh Governor and ex-Assam Chief Secretary Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa, IIT Guwahati academic Dr. Arupjyoti Saikia, Gauhati High Court advocate Santanu Barthakur and senior journalist Bedabrata Lahkar, an eyewitness to the Nellie tragedy. The session was anchored by author and human rights activist Bonojit Hussain, with the Managing Director and Editor of The Crosscurrent in attendance.
Speakers noted that the nearly 500-page report, prepared by senior IAS officer Tribhuvan Prasad Tewary, remains one of the most comprehensive official investigations into the 1983 violence triggered during the controversial Assembly elections. The panel emphasised that the report challenges long-held assumptions by documenting that the unrest was not a single communal riot, but a sequence of violent incidents across districts involving varied linguistic, ethnic and religious communities.
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Citing findings from the report, panelists stated that Assamese settlements were attacked in some regions, while Bengali-speaking villages were targeted in others. The Commission further observed that the elections — conducted using unrevised electoral rolls during the height of the anti-foreigner movement — acted as the immediate trigger, while deeper social and political tensions fuelled the escalation.
The seminar concluded with calls for renewed public engagement and academic scrutiny of the report to aid reconciliation and historical clarity.
