Rise of Populism and Right-Wing Politics in Assam

The entry presents how populism and right wing politics tends to show hostility toward the ethnic and religious minorities in Assam. Traversing from the past to contemporary time the press and literary writers have been projecting and dehumanizing the marginalized communities, the entry elucidates how the populist politics in Assam has been coalesced with the colonial construction of the “migrant.” It argues that the rise of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam is not unique because the region’s political history clings to the exclusionary populist movements.