For decades now, much of Assam’s politics has revolved around Bengali-speaking migrants, mostly from Bangladesh. Though Bengali-speakers are indeed the largest linguistic group after the Assamese, the state is also home to significant populations that do not return either Assamese or Bengali as their mother tongue in the language census.
They trace their roots to different parts of India but have lived in Assam for centuries. Most have limited ties with the places their ancestors came from. Where is home, you ask them, and pat comes the reply: Assam.
 
 
Take the Hindi-speakers. They number nearly 21 lakh, according to the 2011 census. Most of them came in 19th and early 20th centuries and trace their lineages to what are now Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Then there are around six lakh Nepali-speakers who arrived in batches, the earliest dating back to 1826.