Year: 2005/2008
Targets: Tamils

Protests in the northern parts have been connected to the border dispute with Maharashtra. A new pro-Kannada group, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, dismissed as an extortionist group by the state police, tarred the faces of a Marathi mayor of Belgaum in 2005 after he demanded alignment of Belgaum with Maharashtra. The group has also led protests that began on January 3 this year against the alleged recruitment of people from Bihar in the South Western Railways. The KRV ransacked railway offices and threatened an intense strike forcing the railways to call off its recruitment process. It kicked off protests again in February, following Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s off-the-cuff remark that “dirty people” were protesting against recruitment.

Tamil Nadu
Year: 1965
Targets: North Indians

The anti-Hindi agitation saw a small-scale “anti-north Indian” rebellion, with “linguistic imposition and “feelings of neglect” seeing small Tamil groups staging protests in Chennai, particularly Sowcarpet, which has a concentration of north Indians.

Year: 1972
Targets: Malayalees

In 1972, actor M.G. Ramachandran (from Kerala) broke away from the DMK and launched the AIADMK. Rattled by his growing popularity, DMK president and then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi labelled MGR an “alien”. Stray incidents of attacks on tea-shops owned by Malayalees were reported from some parts of the state. The violence lasted for a few days.

West Bengal
Year: 1980s-till date
Targets: Biharis

At railway stations one can see “artwork” on the yellow-and-black board: names written in Hindi and English are tarred, leaving only the Bengali version. This denotes the presence of Amra Bangali, a group that wants only those who speak Bengali and adapt Bengali ways to reside in what it calls “Bangali-stan”. Sparked off by the 1983 Assam movement, known as “Bongali Kheda” or “Drive away Bengalis” movement, Amra Bangali enjoyed a shortlived glory in the mid-80s. It is a frontal organization of the Ananda Marg and was set up by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar. Today, it has been pushed to cyberspace and office in Shyambazar opens once a week.

... contd.