BOOK REVIEW: ASSAM: THE DIFFICULT YEARS BY T.S. MURTY

This comprehensive book review critically examines T.S. Murty's "Assam: The Difficult Years," analyzing its contributions to understanding the complex political, social, and economic challenges facing Assam during a period of significant turmoil. The review assesses Murty's methodological approach, theoretical framework, and empirical analysis of Assam's integration challenges within the Indian federation. The analysis examines how Murty interprets key developments including language politics, migration issues, resource conflicts, and center-state relations. The article evaluates the book's strengths in capturing the complexity of Assam's identity politics and development challenges and identifies areas where the analysis could be deepened or alternative interpretations considered. The review also situates Murty's work within broader scholarship on Indian regional politics and assesses its significance for understanding federal governance in diverse societies.

T.S. Murty's "Assam: The Difficult Years" represented an important contribution to the study of regional politics in India, with this review providing a critical examination of its analysis of Assam's challenges in the early 1980s. The review begins by situating Murty's work within the broader literature on Indian federalism and regional politics, analyzing how it compares with other studies of state-level political dynamics. The analysis examines Murty's methodological approach, assessing how his combination of historical analysis, political commentary, and regional expertise illuminates different dimensions of Assam's complex situation. The review evaluates the book's treatment of identity politics, analyzing how Murty explains the intersection of linguistic, ethnic, and religious identities in Assam's political mobilization. The article assesses the economic analysis in the book, examining how Murty interprets resource conflicts, development disparities, and migration-related economic competition. Based on the comprehensive assessment, the review identifies the book's major contributions to understanding regional politics in India and suggests areas for further research and theoretical refinement. The analysis contributes to academic discourse by providing a systematic evaluation of how one regional study interpreted the complex interplay of identity, resources, and governance in a strategically important Indian state.