The Assam Riots of 189394: A display of power between the Raij and the Raj

The history of the second half of the 19th century Assam was indeed the history of peasant movements. Due to the excessive hike of land revenue and imposition of other taxes the peasants of Assam showed their resentment under the leadership of raijmel against the colonial government in 1861, 1868-69 and in 1893-94. The last phase of peasant insurrections, known as the ‘Assam Riot’, was the reaction of the Re-settlement Rules of 1893 by which the land revenue was doubled the existing rates. Therefore, the disgruntled peasants of Brahmaputra valley, particularly of Kamrup and Darrang districts, once again organized under the banner of raijmel and stood with great unity and solidarity against the government to demonstrate their power. The colonial authority was alarmed with these insurrections and decided to suppress the raijmels resulting violent physical confrontations between the raj and the raij in several places. This work is an attempt to understand the conflict of power of the raijmel organization with the colonial authority.