Interethnic Conflicts in Northeast India: Types, Patterns, and Current Trends

The article examines the major interethnic conflicts of Northeast India (NEI). The author argues that the conventional division of NEI’s population into “plains” and “hill” peoples fails to capture these conflicts, and proposes a more detailed classification based on legal status, settlement history, and each group’s relations with the state and neighboring communities.Three main conflict types are identified. The first is the confrontation between local communities and refugees, treated as a long-term consequence of the Partition of British India. In the 1980s, tensions erupted into open violence – the massacres at Mandai (Tripura, 1980) and Nellie (Assam, 1983); in the 21st century they resurfaced as political crises: disputes over the 2019 Citizenship Act amendments and tensions over the influx of refugees from Myanmar. The second type is the struggle for Scheduled Tribe status. Originally designed to protect vulnerable communities, affirmative action policies have become a driver of inter-communal competition, as seen in the Meitei–Kuki conflict in Manipur and the situation of the tea tribes in Assam. The third type covers inter-tribal conflicts, notably the Mizo–Bru confrontation in Mizoram. Autonomy movements of NEI’s peoples are also discussed.The article concludes that conflicts in NEI are systemic rather than incidental. Underlying causes remain unresolved: persistent economic underdevelopment, the colonial legacy of mismatched administrative and ethnic boundaries, and the unintended consequences of affirmative action. The relative stabilization since the mid-2000s is fragile: tensions are frozen rather than resolved, and effective political mechanisms for their lasting settlement have yet to be developed.