Life as a Bengali kid growing up in Guwahati has been quite educational for me; language-wise. I had the good fortune of picking up fluent Assamese-speaking skills straight from my childhood with the added knowledge of my mother-tongue, Bengali. But for my cousins settled in Barak Valley in Assam, speaking Assamese was always a struggle. The main reason being, people in Barak don’t speak the language.

This was perhaps the reason why my childhood trips to my parents’ hometown in Hailakandi district used to be filled with fascination. Entering Barak, I couldn’t find any person speaking in Assamese. And that was a weird introduction to the valley for me, when I visited for the first time.

Barak is filled with beautiful tea gardens and scenic locations surrounded with lush greens and hills. Speaking of tea gardens, during my visits to Manipur Bagan in Hailakandi district, I used to anxiously wait for a tour of the gorgeous old-fashioned British Bungalows built in the middle of the tea estate. From my last visit to the place, I can confirm that the estate is still as charming as it was the first time I got to experience as a child.

As beautiful the valley is, the sad reality remains that nothing much has evolved in the region, compared to the rest of Assam. The main city in Barak, Silchar houses two reputed educational institutions on the outskirts - Assam University and NIT Silchar; but nothing much beyond it.

Over the many decades since independence, Assam has advanced exponentially in varied aspects. However, Barak valley continues to remain lesser developed. Apart from poor governance, one of the issues that have potentially caused resistance to change in the region are the communal riots that erupts from time to time.

If we dive deeper into the past, it is evident that the people of Barak were not received well by the Assamese community of the state, residing in the Brahmaputra valley.

This brings me to the chaotic times of the post-independent era. The Bengali community had resisted Assam Govt’s decision to make Assamese the sole official language in the state, despite Barak having a majority of Bengali population. The aftermath can be traced back to the historic Bengali Language Movement Act in 1961, where 11 martyrs laid down their lives to defend their mother-tongue in the valley. The Assam Govt. had to eventually withdraw the language imposition in Barak, where Bengali was later declared as the official language.

Given the tension between the two communities, and the protest against the influx of Bengali refugees from Bangladesh in Assam, people of Barak, bore witness to yet another violent phase during the Assam Movement which ended with the resolution of Assam Accord in 1985.

Too much has been written and debated over it. But over the years, people in both the valleys have grown to be more accommodating towards each other now. The more relevant question now is, when will Barak Valley walk the path of development? Despite several scenic locations, tourism is scare here due to lack of infrastructure. Healthcare facilities in the three districts of Barak Valley is still limited and bumpy rides along the main streets of Silchar is still a reality.

Today, Assam has several developmental projects in the pipeline and people of the Brahmaputra valley has a positive outlook for the future. But without the development of Barak valley, Assam cannot move ahead. Support from the Govt. and united effort of the people are the need of the hour in the valley. Until then, the rich potential of the valley lay hidden within it.