Assam on edge for the last few months on the issue of eviction initiated by CM Himnata Biswa Sarma led state government. The state is clearly divided into two sections on the issue, while government, indigenous people groups, organisations are in favour of large scale evictions, opposition parties led by Congress, AIUDF, left parties like Raijor Dal, Bangladeshi-origin Muslim organisations are against it. Interestingly, the indigenous Muslims which consist of merely 3 percent of the state population are also in favour of evictions in forest and government lands encroached by Miya populations. While the demands for eviction in new areas where the Bangladeshi Muslims are growing day by day, the BJP led government reaffirms its commitment to safeguard the land and political rights of the indigenous people of Assam.
Why evictions in Assam?
As per government data nearly 29 lakh bighas of forest and government lands are under encroachment in Assam. Majority of these lands are being encroached by Bangladeshi origin Muslims or Miya. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said that only 1 lakh 39 thousand bighas of land has been cleared by the state government in the last four years. The eviction drives conducted in the last four years from Gorukhuti in Darrang district to latest in Uriamghat in Golaghat district exposes some dangerous ploy of the Bangladeshi Muslims to capture Hindu majority assembly constituencies in the state. CM Sarma said it is not just a simple encroachment or land jihad, it is a ploy to capture the political rights of the indigenous people. They come and encroach forest or government land in a Hindu majority assembly constituency and slowly increase the population by large scale migration. After a few years they become voters of the constituency and completely change the demography. This has been seen in Siphazhar, Goalpara, Lumding, Borsola, Sorupothar and so many other places in the last few decades, CM Sarma added.
Moreover, they just don’t encroach on a small area. It has been seen across the state that one Miya family encroaches hundreds of bighas of forest land. In Gorukhuti, it was seen how one family encroached over 50 bighas of government land, how one person encroached 300 bighas of forest land in Rengma forest and established erica nut garden or how Miya encroachers destroyed hundreds of bighas of land in Lumding reserve forest to set up turmeric garden. The ploy of the Miya are also visible in every evicted areas as how over 5000 people migrated from Nagaon, Hojai districts to encroach forest land and change demography of a Hindu majority assembly constituency in Golaghat district, a place which is 200 kilometer away from Nagaon or how thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims from Barpeta encroached a reserve forest 350 kilometers away in a Hindu majority Lumding constituency to change the demography. Lakimpur was not different, where Miya from as far as 600 kilometers travelled to encroach government land and change the demography of a Hindu Assamese majority district. CM Sarma said that it is utmost important to continue the eviction drives. Reclaiming the forest land is very important for the ecological balance and it is also important to safeguard the demography of the state. If we allow this to continue, in the next two to three decades, indigenous people will lose land, economic, and political rights in their own state.
The Left propaganda:
Senior journalist Dhruba Mahata wrote, how come it is possible that only the Miya people of the state are affected by flood in Assam. Whenever the government conducts an eviction the opposition and left eco system cries that these people are landless due to flood and so they settled in government or forest land. Why people affected by flood in lower Assam districts like Dhubri, Barpeta, South Salmara etc travel hundreds of kilometers to upper Assam districts like Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Dhemaji and Tinsikia and encroach government and forest land. This is not acceptable and it looks like repeating the then Muslim League’s conspiracy to capture the whole Assam. The indigenous people of districts like Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Majuli who are also equally or more affected by flood never encroached forest or government land in any places of Assam. So the flood affected formula of the encroachers is not acceptable at all, Mahanta wrote.
Another propaganda of the left ecosystem is that the government is targeting the Bangladeshi Muslims only. Hriday Borah, a researcher based in Guwahati said that only the Miya people are encroaching the forest lands in the state. Be it Lumding, Rengma, Goalpara, Bura Chapori, Orang or Kaziranga all the encroachers are Bangladeshi Muslims. So naturally the evictions will affect them only. If truly they are flood affected or landless they should apply in their own districts for government land allotment, but instead of that they go to a forest and encroach on it. Which law of the country will accept and allow it, Borah said. Many believe that the huge and unchecked influx from Bangladesh and huge population blast amongst the Miya people are one of the reasons for the massive eviction. Former AASU general secretary Shankar Barua said that Bangladeshi Miya people have more documents than the genuine Indian people. They can produce any documents whenever it is needed. It has been seen during the NRC update process, but that doesn’t guarantee that all of these people are Indian. But only political will and massive eviction drives will safeguard the land and political rights of the indigenous people of the state. CM Sarma also said that no indigenous people of the state will be affected by the ongoing eviction drives. It is a propaganda by the Congress party to panic the local people. But they shouldn’t worry at all as the government is going to give them land right under Mission Vasundhara 3.0.
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