By Toni Chiran
The founding vision of the Bangladeshi state was rooted in equality, human dignity, social justice, and inclusive development. Yet, more than five decades after independence, a significant portion of the country’s Indigenous peoples—particularly the Garo, Koch, Barman, Hajong, Dalu, Banai, and Hadi communities of Greater Mymensingh—remain deprived of full citizenship rights, constitutional recognition, and fair political representation within the state structure.
According to the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum, more than four million people from over 54 Indigenous communities live in Bangladesh, although official state statistics significantly underreport this number. This numerical denial reflects a broader pattern of political and constitutional exclusion. Indigenous peoples are the original inhabitants of this land, possessing their own languages, cultures, social institutions, land management systems, and historical heritage.
In the history of Greater Mymensingh, the presence of the Garo, Hajong, Koch, Barman, Banai, Dalu, and Hadi peoples is not merely that of marginalised groups, but of active participants in state formation, agricultural development, resistance movements, and the Liberation War of Bangladesh. In his renowned work History of Mymensingh, researcher Kedarnath Majumdar clearly documents that before the arrival of the Mughals, vast areas of eastern Mymensingh were governed by various small kingdoms and political systems led by the Koch, Hajong, and Garo peoples. Regions such as Susang, Jangalbari, Madanpur, Bokainagar, and Gordalipa bore the political presence of Garo, Koch, and Hajong rulers. These communities were integral architects of the region’s socio-political foundations.
Their contributions extended through the anti-British resistance, the Tanka peasant movement, agrarian uprisings, and ultimately the Liberation War of 1971. Greater Mymensingh alone is home to approximately 1,500 officially recognised Indigenous freedom fighters, representing an important chapter in Bangladesh’s liberation history.
Yet today, there seems to be no one willing to hear the cries of the Garo hills and Hajong settlements—communities that once stood as partners in history but now remain marginalised by the state. Since independence, these groups have not received the dignity and recognition warranted by their historical role. Instead, they have faced continuous land dispossession, constitutional denial, political exclusion, and forced displacement in the name of development.
During British colonial rule, areas such as Sherpur, Nalitabari, Haluaghat, Durgapur, and Kalmakanda in Greater Mymensingh were recognized as “Partially Excluded Areas.” In simple terms, regions with large Indigenous populations and distinct customary laws, cultural systems, and land management practices were placed under special administrative protections outside ordinary governance structures. This recognition acknowledged the unique social realities and communal land ownership traditions of Indigenous peoples. However, during the Pakistan period, this special status was abolished, and in independent Bangladesh, the Indigenous peoples of the plains were further deprived of even the minimum institutional safeguards for their land, culture, and social systems.
Today, Indigenous peoples in the plains continue to lose their ancestral lands through land grabbing, forged documents, reserved forests, national parks, tourism projects, rubber plantations, and economic zones established in the name of development. Although the East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950 offered limited protections, these have proven ineffective because the state has never recognized Indigenous communal land ownership systems. For Indigenous peoples, land is not merely property—it is the foundation of cultural identity, social existence, self-governance, and self-determination.
Another major crisis lies in the constitutional denial of Indigenous identity itself. Despite years of dialogue between Indigenous representatives and the government, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh in 2011 inserted the terms “tribes,” “minor races,” “ethnic sects,” and “communities,” while deliberately avoiding the word “Indigenous.” Through this linguistic maneuver, the state effectively distanced itself from international human rights frameworks—particularly the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) 2007, both of which provide internationally recognised standards for Indigenous rights protection.
Indigenous peoples and international organisations alike regard the term “Indigenous Peoples” as both legitimate and appropriate because it represents not only cultural identity but also questions of land rights, self-governance, historical justice, and self-determination.
Recently, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) appointed two Indigenous women from the plains and the hill tracts as members of parliament through reserved seats. This move carries important political significance at the policymaking level. Similarly, the positive response of Deputy Speaker Barrister Kaiser Kamal toward reviving the Parliamentary Caucus on Indigenous Affairs, as well as his progressive stance in highlighting the history, culture, and state marginalisation of the Garo, Koch, and Hajong communities of Greater Mymensingh, deserves recognition. Such acknowledgment from the highest levels of the state brings long-neglected realities into the national conversation and can play a meaningful role in shaping policy decisions.
To build a truly inclusive Bangladesh, these marginalized communities must be viewed not merely as beneficiaries of development, but as equal partners in policymaking. The customary land rights of Indigenous peoples in the plains must receive legal recognition, and a separate land commission should be established for their protection. Reasonable reserved representation in the national parliament and local government institutions must also be ensured.
Constitutional recognition of Indigenous identity, ratification of ILO Convention 169, mother-tongue-based education, protection and empowerment of Indigenous women and children, and recognition of Indigenous cultural institutions and traditional governance systems are urgently needed. Before undertaking any development project in Indigenous-inhabited areas, the state must ensure meaningful consultation and obtain Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the affected communities.
The Indigenous peoples of Bangladesh are not seeking charity; they are demanding constitutional justice, historical recognition, equality, and equal rights. The vision of a “Rainbow Nation” often invoked by political leaders, including the Prime Minister and the BNP, cannot be realized unless Indigenous peoples are also allowed to become equal partners in the nation’s progress. It is the responsibility of the state to create that opportunity.
To build a truly democratic, non-discriminatory, and humane Bangladesh, the state must protect the land, identity, culture, economic rights, and political rights of Indigenous peoples in Greater Mymensingh as well as in both the plains and hill regions. Development will become meaningful only when the people of the Garo hills, Hajong settlements, Koch villages, and the Dalu, Hadi, and Banai communities can equally declare with dignity that Bangladesh belongs to all its citizens—Bengali and Indigenous, Hindu and Muslim, Buddhist and Christian alike.
The dream of an inclusive Bangladesh cannot be achieved solely through the advancement of the majority. It can only be realized through ensuring justice, dignity, and rights for marginalized communities.
