The Assam branch of RCPI sided with Dasgupta in the 1948 split. In the wake of Independence, RCPI and CPI initiated mass peasant unrest in Assam. In the wake of the Dum Dum-Basirhat attacks, the party decided to launch an armed movement for the independence of Assam from India. The party held a conference in Khowang, Dibrugarh, at which is decided to build a 'People's Army' as an armed mass front of the party. RCPI-led uprisings in Assam took place between 1948 and 1952. Khagen Barbarua led the movement in the non-tribal areas in Upper Assam. The party raised the battle cry 'land belongs to the one who wields a plough, the jungle belongs to one who wields an axe', calling for ownership rights for sharecroppers. The Assam government placed a ban on the party, citing the pretext that RCPI organized peasants to cease payments to landlords and supported illegal felling of trees.