The struggle for the use of Assamese for official purposes, in courts and as a medium of instruction in educational institutions began in the nineteenth century, when the region was under the British rule.
The use of Bengali in Assam as the language of the courts was resented by the Assamese people and also by American Baptist Missionaries such as Nathan Brown.
[2] The imposition of Bengali as the language of the court and educational institutions exasperated the Assamese intelligentsia and common society of Assam.
However, Bengali continued to be used as the medium of instruction in middle and higher educational institutions till the end of the nineteenth century.
[9] In 1899, Manick Chandra requested the British Government to set up a college in Guwahati- the Chief Commissioner Henry Cotton inaugurated it in 1901.
[10] In 1888, the Asamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha was formed to further the cause of the development of the Assamese language, by a group of students then studying in Calcutta.
The increase or decrease in the number of people speaking a particular language between 1931-1951 Census is dependent not merely on natural growth and biological factors.
[18] Although the demand[19] for making Assamese the official language in Assam, after the independence of India had been raised since 1950, following the States Reorganization Act, 1956,[20] the movement gained a new momentum.
[9] The April 1959 resolution, demanding that Assamese be made the sole official language in Assam- sparked political reaction.
Following the APCC resolution, a procession was led out by non-Assamese students in Shillong to oppose the decision to make Assamese the sole official language in Assam.
[22] The Shillong students' procession was in turn opposed in Upper Assam- in areas such as Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Golaghat and Jorhat, where they supported the acceptance of Assamese as the official language.
[25] The government of Assam, under the then Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha proposed the Assamese Official Language Bill in the Assembly on 10 October 1960.
[28][27] In Cachar itself, on the other hand, the Muslims, the Manipuris and the indigenous Cacharis formed the 'Shanti Parishad' which in a memorandum to the Home Minister urged that Assamese should be the sole official language in Assam.
[30] A circular was released in 1961 stating that "without prejudice to the provisions contained in Section 3, the Bengali language shall be used for administrative and other official purposes up to and including district level"[31] as the bill was amended on 7 October 1961.
With the possibility of other universities taking a similar decision in the near future, political resentment got pronounced in Cachar through press statements, public meetings etc.
This resulted in protests in Cachar again and the matter reached the Supreme Court of India, where it was alleged that Article 30 of the Indian Constitution, providing certain rights to linguistic minorities, was violated.
The court released a stay order[40] while the Government of Assam supported the idea that a new university shall be set up for the Barak Valley.
Over the days the clashes spread to the neighbouring Mangaldoi town and other parts of the Brahmaputra Valley such as Dhing, Doboka, Laharighat and Moirabari, mostly between immigrant peasantry and Bengali Hindu refugees.