As first trains reach Assam, many(Hindus) say they will return to Bangalore

Almost 60 hours after they fled Bangalore fearing attacks by Muslims, the first batch of about 7,000 passengers from the Northeast arrived at the Guwahati railway station this morning.

The two special trains and the regular Bangalore-Guwahati Express reached here between 5 am-9 am. While some complained of threats, many said they would return to Bangalore as soon as possible.

The exodus had begun days earlier, as rumors — spread through text messages and social media — warned of imminent attacks on Northeasterners in retaliation for the July 2012 ethnic violence between Bodos and Muslims in Assam's Kokrajhar district. Panic gripped Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Mumbai. Railway stations filled with thousands of students and workers desperate to get home; by some estimates, more than 30,000 people fled in a single week.

The panic was later found to be largely baseless — no organized attacks materialized — but the fear was real. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the nation on August 18, assuring Northeasterners of their safety and calling the rumors a "shameful" attempt to divide the country. The government imposed a 15-day ban on bulk SMS and MMS (capped at five messages per day) to choke off the rumor mill, and blocked dozens of websites and social media pages accused of morphing images to inflame tensions.

Back in Guwahati, the mood among the returnees was mixed. Many said they had jobs, studies, and lives in Bangalore and would go back once the fear subsided. For them, the city that had sent them fleeing was still home.