CHSS fellow Mridugunjan Deka has article published in Economic and Political Weekly
Congratulations!
We are glad to share news that one of our fellows, Mridugunjan Deka, has his article, “Lost in Spontaneity: Revisiting the Decline of the Anti-CAA Protests in Assam”, published in the prestigious journal, Economic and Political Weekly (Scopus).
Mridugunjan Deka
Affiliation: Gauhati University, India
Research interests: identity and postconflict lived experiences of the Adivasi people in western Assam, India
Lost in Spontaneity
Revisiting the Decline of the Anti-CAA Protests in Assam
Abstract:
The decline in popular resistance in Assam between the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in 2019 and its implementation in 2024 has been analysed in the context of Hindutva identity politics and economic populism manifested in state beneficiary schemes, as well as the role of a collective memory shaped by the state’s history of political violence and militarism.
Citation:
Deka, M. (2025) Lost in spontaneity: Revisiting the decline of the anti-CAA protests in Assam. Economic & Political Weekly, 60(9), 12–15.
Mridugunjan Deka has attended the CHSS workshop on “Researching Marginalities” held at Savitribai Phule Pune University in May 2024 as a participant and October 2024 as a paper presenter. He is a doctoral student in Political Science from Gauhati University and is working on the identity and postconflict lived experiences of the Adivasi people in western Assam, India. He has benefited immensely from the activities undertaken in the workshop pertaining to academic writing and ‘studying community’.
Previously, he had written his MPhil dissertation on the reception of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 in Assam. This article is on the decline of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 protests in the northeast Indian state of Assam. It outlines pertinent factors that contributed to the fizzling out of the anti-CAA resistance in the state. By introducing the conceptual framework of collective memory, it addresses a phenomenon that has largely gone missing in academic writings on the CAA in Assam.
Assam’s journey through political unrest, state and non-state violence, and social conflict in postcolonial India hangs heavily on its social psyche and this was powerfully reflected in the Assamese vernacular print media during the protests. The article also analyses the public mood in Assam on the eve of the CAA’s implementation in 2024. It offers reasons for the absence of mass public outrage, unlike when the law was passed in late 2019, despite its continued unpopularity. In the end, the article hints at unintended consequences of the CAA manifested internally in inter-state and NRC related politics. In summation, it adds to the growing literature on protest politics in Northeast India. The author can be contacted at dekamridugunjan@gauhati.ac.in and this article can be read at https://www.epw.in/journal/2025/9/commentary/lost-spontaneity.html“