r/BarakvalleySpeaks

নমস্কার প্রিয় অতিথি 🙏

Welcome to Brahmaputran Bengalis | ব্রহ্মপুত্রীয় বাঙালি

This ​is is a small corner on Reddit for Bengalis of Assam’s Brahmaputra Valley… a community long settled in this land, shaped by its culture and shared life.

Here, you can talk about our history, identity, community, festivals, language, and everyday experiences… even the difficult parts… openly and without judgment or interruption 😄

Be yourself. Be proud of your identity, your motherland, and your people. At the same time, we share this land with many communities, and this space respects that bond 🤝

If you’re not a Brahmaputran Bengali, you’re still welcome to join, learn,ask and engage respectfully.

From Durga Puja 🪔 to Bihu 🎶 to Eid 🌙… share your festive ​moments, your stories, your joy ✨

No slurs, no hostility, and no space for hate. This is a place where you can speak without fear or discomfort.

So come, be a সদস্য, join the adda ☕ and just… start talking.

স্বাগতম 🌺

I am in my 30s and have grown up witnessing both regimes. Before the BJP came to power in Assam, Barak Valley felt like an irrelevant piece of land. There were occasional developments, but nothing substantial enough to change everyday life. We were largely neglected, geographically isolated and politically sidelined, with little hope for meaningful progress.

Chief Ministers rarely visited the region. Roads were in terrible condition, and despite repeated protests, most rural areas remained poorly connected due to lack of planning and funding.

Things began to change with the governments led by Sarbananda Sonowal and later Himanta Biswa Sarma. Previously inaccessible areas became reachable within hours. People started exploring the unexplored parts of our beautiful valley. Rail connectivity improved, with significant contribution from the central government, and for the first time, there seemed to be a clear vision for the region. (Silchar amrar Dui Nombor London)

During this period, Parimal Suklabaidya, as PWD Minister, played a major role in improving rural road infrastructure. Key developments followed, the announcement and completion of the Barak Valley Secretariat, and Silchar being declared a city.

Flood management, long a major concern in Silchar, has also started seeing more structured attention. After the recent devastating floods, efforts have been made to reconstruct and improve the city’s drainage systems, and even infrastructure like national highway culverts has been upgraded to address water flow issues. While the intent and direction are visible, progress in some areas remains slow and uneven.

Yes, many projects still lag behind those in Guwahati and Upper Assam, but at least the region is no longer ignored. There is recognition now. At the same time, not everything inspires confidence, some projects like the planetarium do not look that impressive, and I remain skeptical about the flyover and how effectively it will be implemented.

The current Chief Minister’s engagement is also visible. He visits Silchar during Durga Puja, personally inspects flood situations, even wading through knee-deep water, and maintains a presence throughout the year. The government’s intent also became evident when the Barak Valley Secretariat was planned, reducing the region’s dependence on Dispur. This level of visibility and responsiveness was not something I saw during the tenure of Tarun Gogoi, nor did people even expect it then. We even witnessed the Barak Valley Development Ministry, first of its kind.

There are still concerns, such as subtle attempts at Assamese imposition, which I have mentioned before in one of my posts, but there is also an effort to balance. Notably, the Chief Minister speaks in Bengali when visiting Barak Valley, signaling an attempt to engage both Assamese and Bengali communities.

The announcement of the Silchar, Guwahati expressway is another long overdue step. This should have happened decades ago. For years, people struggled while traveling via Shillong, but at least now the issue is being addressed instead of ignored. Connectivity is also being strengthened with the announcement of a new airport, and given the central government’s track record in building airport infrastructure, there is some hope that this project will see completion. Even so, such an announcement should have come much earlier, especially when regions with far lower demand across India were receiving airports, but it is still a step in the right direction.

One concern I have had is the unnecessary rhetoric around the term “miya.” It could have been avoided, or more clearly framed, by referring specifically to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants instead. This was important to me because many Sylheti Muslims are indigenous to the Barak Valley, and there has always been a concern about how they might be perceived or treated in such narratives. However, in more recent statements, the Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, has clarified that the Muslim population of Barak Valley is indigenous and should not be labeled as “miya,” which aligns with the historical reality of the region.

P.S. The last time a Congress MLA from Badarpur became Chief Minister, Bimala Prasad Chaliha, his tenure witnessed the 1961 firing on unarmed civilians protesting for their language.