Guwahati: Congress Deputy LoP Gaurav Gogoi should arrange land for the Miya or take them to Rahul Gandhi’s home, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma jibes at Congress leadership on the issue of eviction of Bangladeshi origin Miya from forest land in Assam. State Congress president MP Gaurav Gogoi on August 9 referred to the Miya people as the New Assamese and claimed that all the evicted people are Indian citizens. Reacting to that CM Sarma said, “ we don’t have enough space for the indigenous Assamese people in the state and we can’t adjust to the so-called New Assamese as described by the Congress leader. If he is so fond of them, he can take them to Rahul Gandhi’s home or he can accommodate them in his own house.”
Earlier many Assam Congress leaders claimed that the Miya people are ‘origin Assamese’ people and they are not Bangladeshi infiltrators.
CM Sarma on August 10 reiterated his stand on the issue and said that his government will not allow any land of the state under the encroachment of suspected infiltrators. Indigenous people have lost the political rights in many constituencies, land rights in many districts to the infiltrators. Gaurav Gogoi, Akhil Gogoi must answer this. Had we not conducted eviction in Uriamghat (Rengma forest), 10,000 people living there illegally would have changed the political future of the Sarupotha assembly constituency, he said. CM Sarma further said, Congress and opposition parties claim that the evicted people are poor and flood affected people. But my question to the opposition is, which poor people have 300 bighas of forest land in his possession? Which poor people have 10 fisheries in public grazing reserves? Which poor people have 300 bighas of erica nut garden in forest land? They are simply organised encroachers with an aim to change the demography of Hindu majority constituencies of Assam.
