A report on Assam and Bengalis

Today, Bengal is divided between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal; the historical region encompassed the modern-day states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Assam, among others in India, and some parts of Myanmar or Burma (Rakhine State).

The predominant ethnolinguistic group is the Bengali people, who speak the Indo-Aryan language of Bengali.

It also borders the Indian states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam.

The state's main ethnic group are the Bengalis, with the Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority.

Within India, Bengali is the official language of the states of West Bengal, Tripura and the Barak Valley region of the state of Assam.

The Bengali Language Movement was a popular ethno-linguistic movement in the former East Bengal (today Bangladesh), which was a result of the strong linguistic consciousness of the Bengalis to gain and protect spoken and written Bengali's recognition as a state language of the then Dominion of Pakistan.

In India, they tend to identify themselves as Bengalis while in Bangladesh they tend to identify themselves as Hindus.

The Raj, however, carried out some restructuring, and carved out Bengali Hindu majority districts like Manbhum, Singbhum, Santal Pargana and Purnia awarding them to Bihar and others like Cachar that were awarded to Assam, which effectively made the Bengali Hindus a minority in the united province of Bengal.

Bengali Muslims (বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis.

Bengali Muslims make up the majority of Bangladesh's citizens, and are the largest minority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam.

The third-smallest state in the country, it covers 10491.69 km2 and is bordered by Bangladesh to the north, south, and west, and the Indian states of Assam and Mizoram to the east.

According to the 2001 census of India, Bengalis represented almost 70 per cent of Tripura's population while the Tripuri population amounted to 30 per cent.

The largest ethnic group of the province were Bengalis, who in turn were the largest ethnic group in Pakistan.

East Pakistan was home to immigrant Muslims from across the Indian subcontinent, including West Bengal, Bihar, Sindh, Gujarat, the Northwest Frontier Province, Assam, Orissa, the Punjab and Kerala.

Within India's northeast region, it is the southernmost landlocked state, sharing borders with three of the Seven Sister States, namely Tripura, Assam and Manipur.

Sometime in the 16th century CE, the first batch of Mizo crossed Tiau River and settled in Mizoram and they were called as Kukis by Bengalis.

It is bordered by the state of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east.

There are also sizable populations of non-tribal communities like Bengalis, Marwaris, Nepalis, Punjabis and others living mostly around Dimapur City.

The Barak Valley is located in the southern region of the Indian state of Assam.

While Bengalis are Indigenous to only Karimganj district of Barak valley which have been consolidated into the valley during 1947 Sylhet's Partition.