The colonisation of Asom by Bengali Muslims [who later became Na-Asomiya] is a tragic piece. It all began with Asomiya peasant revolt against Brits in 1890s. From that point, the Asomiya peasants were never trusted again by the British, who decided to colonise them with Muslims.
Asomiya did not have much in the way of Zamindari. The `middle class' of pre-1900 Asom was the peasant - or rather, the small-holder. It was this class that the Brits never trusted and decided to crush with the Muslim Bengali colonisation in early 1900s.
One of the saddest and most tragic parts is that these Asomiya peasants put up superb resistance for nearly a decade against the British, but are now totally forgotten.
In comparison to the mass invasion by the Bengali Muslims, there was not much immigration by the Bengali Hindus into Asom. But those who came were the literates - the clerks, the doctors, the teachers, and they ended up taking a lot of jobs of the middle class in Asom.
This was the start of Asomiya-Bengali fight. The better educated Bengalis had a huge advantage in competitive terms. But now, the Asomiya are better educated, many Bengalis have left for Asom in the wake of the Students movement of Asom in the 1970s-80s. The friction has reduced.
*left Asom, not left for Asom*
