ASSAM AGITATION 47 to study the issue of immigration into A^sarn in ,the post-1826 period. The study of the role of the British colonial power as well as the neo-Assamcse middle class in connection with the immigration into Assam is a matter of interesting revelation. History of Immigration Immigration into Assam, in the past, was the result of historical process and of necessity. With the annexation of Assam by the British, the erstwhile Ahom kindgom became an integral part of India. The present Goalpara district of Assam formed part of Bengal even before the East India Company was granted the Dewani of Bengal in 1765 by the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. It was in 1639 that Goalpara had become a part of Bengal. Thus Goalpara was included in the British empire nearly 60 years before Assam as a whole became a part of it. From 1826 to 1873, Assam was being administered under the administrative umbrella of the Bengal Presidency. It was only in 1874, that, with the addition of three Bengal districts, namely, Goalpara, Cachar and Sylhet, Assam was constituted into a Chief Commissioner's Province. With regard to the inclusion of Sylhet into Assam, Amalendu Guha writes: Although vast in area, this new Province with its small population of 2,443 thousands had a meagre revenue potential.... To make it financially viable the authorities therefore decided in September to -incorporate into it the populous, Bengali speaking district of Sylhet which, historically as well as ethnically, was an integral part of Bengal. Even with this additional 1,720 thousand people of Sylhet, the new province was only about half as]populous as the Central Provinces.3 Not from Assam but from Sylhet the voice of protest was raised against the inclusion of Sylhet in the province of Assam. With a view to increasing "administrative efficiency" Lord Curzon prepared a plan for the partition of Bengal in 1903. According to this plan certain subdivisions such as Rajshahi, Dacca, Chittagong of Bengal Presidency were made over to Assam and the province was re-christened as "East Bengal and Assam" with Dacca as the capital of the new prov-ince in 1905. Against this imperialist plan of Curzon there started in Bengal the anti-partition movement which very soon came to be known as the Swadeshi movement. This time too Assam's reaction was trifle. However, in view of the agitation, the British Indian administration declared the plan for partition of Bengal void in 1912. In the process, Assam too retained her old status of a separate province. On the eve of indc^