Nellie Massacre Resurfaces in Assam Politics: Competing Commission Reports Fuel Debate Ahead of 2026 Elections

More than 1,800 people were killed within hours in the Nellie massacre.

As the 2026 Assam Assembly elections approach, the Nellie massacre has reemerged in political discourse, with the ruling party actively pushing to publicize the Tiwari Commission report.

Political analysts suggest this issue will become increasingly significant, with the ruling party seemingly intent on releasing the report before elections to potentially polarize public sentiment for electoral advantage.

The Nellie massacre, occurring on February 18, 1983, stands as one of Assam's most violent single-day ethnic conflicts, taking place during the height of the Assam Agitation.

Tensions that had long existed between Tiwa (Lalung) villagers and Bengali-origin Muslim settlers in the Nagaon-Morigaon region erupted into sudden violence across 14 villages near Nellie, resulting in over 1,800 deaths in just hours.

Two significant investigations documented this tragedy with different perspectives. The government-appointed Tiwari Commission, led by Justice Tribhuban Prasad Tiwary, a retired Gauhati High Court judge, was established in July 1983 under the Commissions of Inquiry Act to examine the disturbances, identify administrative failures, and recommend preventive measures.

In contrast, the Mehta Commission, headed by Justice TU Mehta, former Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, was formed in 1984 by the Assam Rajyik Freedom Fighters' Association as a non-official, civil society judicial inquiry responding to dissatisfaction over the government's refusal to release the Tiwari report and concerns about impartiality.

While both commissions examined the violence surrounding the 1983 elections, their conclusions differ substantially.

The Tiwari Commission provided an administrative analysis of incidents across various districts including Nellie, focusing on police response, district-level failures, and procedural reform recommendations.

The Mehta Commission took a broader political and constitutional perspective, arguing that the central government's decision to hold elections with unrevised electoral rolls, combined with widespread state repression, created conditions that enabled massacres like Nellie.

The BJP government has now renewed efforts to make the Tiwari Commission report public. The party, which governs Assam, has consistently voiced concerns about illegal migration and recently conducted large-scale eviction operations against alleged illegal encroachers, many of whom were Bengali-origin Muslims.

The initial catalyst for the 1983 violence was the decision to conduct Assembly elections without updating electoral rolls to remove names of suspected "illegal migrants"—a central demand of the six-year Assam Movement.

The Nellie massacre remains a profound tragedy in Assam's history and has once again become politically significant as elections approach. While opposition parties criticize the government over this issue, the ruling party remains determined to release the Tiwari Commission report.