“If we remain silent, one day we will have to lose our Jati, Mati, Bheti (community, land, foundation) in our own state. Within just 10 years, our destiny will change. If the Assamese people are always willing to compromise, within 15 years, 80 per cent of the ministers in the state cabinet will be from outside the community, and in 20 years, an unfamiliar chief minister would hoist the Independence Day flag… We will not sell our lands, rent our houses, or allow government lands to be encroached by unknown people,” said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Independence Day.
In the cabinet meeting held earlier in Dibrugarh, upper Assam on July 23, CM Sarma had expressed deep concern about the ever changing demography of Assam while talking to the media. He said going by the 2011 census data, Muslims are over 34 per cent of the population and only 3 per cent are Assamese speaking Muslims. This means the state has over 1 crore migrant Muslims of Bangladesh origin. Going by the trends of previous population growth amongst Bangladeshi origin Muslims, by 2041 census Muslim population of the state will be half of the total population. He said, “This is not my take, it is the statistical census report.”
The State is going to face a bigger challenge in the next two decades. Huge and continuous influx from Bangladesh for decades has completely altered the demography of the state. At least in 9 districts of Assam, the Bangladeshi Muslims are in majority and Hindu population is shrinking there day by day. With the population blast, the Bangladeshi Muslims are now targeting the forests, Village Grazing Reserve (VGR) and Professional Grazing Reserve (PGR) lands, and government lands. Backed by Muslim politicians and patronised by some political parties, they are now set for land jihad in a bigger way.
Massive Scale of Land Jihad
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, on July 15th, exposed the dangerous land jihad ploy by Bangladeshi origin Muslims in Upper Assam districts. Addressing a press meet in Dispur, CM Sarma said after complete dominance in maximum Lower Assam district, these people are now targeting Upper Assam districts like Lakhimpur and Golaghat. Recently conducted eviction drive in Lakhimpur district exposes the ploy to change the demography of the Hindu majority district by Bangladeshi origin Muslims.
He said that the recently evicted families in Lakhimpur travelled hundreds of kilometers to encroach forest land in the district. 74 families of Bangladeshi origin Muslim families from Barpeta district, which is over 400 kilometers away, 63 families from Nagaon (250 Kms away), 7 families from Goalpara (480 Kms away), 2 families each from Cachar (550 Kms away) and South Salmara (590 Kms away) went to Lakhimpur and encroached forest land and established villages to change the demography of the district. CM Sarma said that the government scrutinised and found that the encroacher families have their relatives in the origin places and they were not landless. Their sole purpose was to grab government land and change the demographics of Hindu majority assembly constituencies and districts.
Sarma further said that for the past one year, Muslims from Nagaon district were encroaching forest land in Uriamghat in Golaghat district. Now night buses are plying between Dhing in Nagaon district and Uriamghat in Golaghat district to carry them. These people are trying to change the demography of the Upper Assam districts. If Assamese people do not prevent this ploy, in next 20 years, the forest cover in Assam will vanish and most importantly the demography of the upper Assam district will be changed forever. If we see the voter list of Lakhimpur district, it has changed drastically in the last 15-20 years, the CM said. He further said that so called intellectuals and left liberals are opposing the eviction drives but local Assamese people and Tai Ahom Student Union in Uriamghat have submitted a memorandum to conduct eviction in encroached forest land.
The Himanta government has carried out a series of massive eviction drives in Assam in the last 4 years. So far, the government has cleared 119,548 Bighas (40,000 acres) of land from the encroachment of Bangladeshi origin Muslims. “In the last 4 years, we have freed up over 160 sq km of land in Assam. This is about 75 per cent of the total area of our capital Guwahati. We are committed to free every inch of land from encroachers,” CM Sarma said. The government has successfully prevented the ploy to change the demography of many Hindu majority constituencies in Assam. He further informed that all these actions taken by his government are against the ongoing land jihad in the state and again mentioned that if people of Assam do not awaken now, it will be too late.
Sarma warned that after huge demographic changes in Lower and Middle Assam, these people are now eyeing demographic invasion in Upper Assam. “They initially tried the invasion in Kaziranga National Park, but the BJP government thwarted it. Apparently they tried it in Lakhimpur, Lumding, Uriamghat etc, but the government has failed their mission. Once they are a sizable voter in an assembly constituency, the local leadership resists eviction and subsequently they get successful in changing the demography. This happened in Lower and Middle Assam, we cannot allow it to happen in Upper Assam,” the CM added.
He also mentioned that a total of 9 lakhs acres of forest land are still under encroachment in the state and roughly about 60 per cent of these forest land are under encroachment of Bangladeshi origin Muslims. Sarma said that during the previous Congress government, one Suleman Chaudhury was made DFO in Goalpara district and he himself facilitated thousands of Muslims to settle in forest land. The same DFO is now fighting in the court as advocate for the evicted encroachers.
Congress’ Open Support To Encroachers
On July 16, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge attended a public meeting in Assam. To appease the vote bank, both Rahul and Kharge openly supported the encroachment and vowed to rebuild the houses demolished in evictions.
Less than 24 hours after senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge’s support for families living on encroached land, a violent clash broke out in Goalpara’s Paikan Reserve Forest on the morning of July 17, where Bangladeshi-origin encroachers attacked police and forest officials during an eviction operation.
A routine forest eviction drive turned into a scene of chaos and bloodshed in Assam’s Goalpara district, when the mob of encroachers clashed with police and forest department personnel attempting to clear illegal settlements from the forest. The encroachers pelted stones and attacked the eviction team with bamboo sticks and other sharp weapons. Police had to resort to fire and lathi charge to control the violent mob. As a result, one person was dead and one critically injured. Several police personnel were also injured in the attack by encroachers.
An eviction drive was carried out in Paikan forest reserve on July 13, to clear 140 acres of encroached land in the reserve forest by Bangladeshi origin Muslims. The evicted people tried to re-encroach the reserve forest by setting up makeshift camps. On Wednesday, the administration went to clear the re-encroached area. But the encroachers tried to resist the eviction.
What began as a tense standoff quickly escalated into an open confrontation, as hundreds of encroachers including women began pelting stones, damaging vehicles and even attacking an excavator brought in for the eviction. Shocking videos captured from the scene show chaotic moments — men, women armed with sticks, stones raining down on officials, and forest staff scrambling to protect equipment and themselves.
Faced with an increasingly violent situation, the police reportedly opened fire in self-defence. One person, identified as Shakuar Hussain, was killed in the firing. Another, Kutubuddin Sheikh, sustained injuries and is being treated. Authorities said the firing was a last resort after repeated warnings and attempts at crowd control failed.
“We came under sudden, intense attack. Stones were flying from all directions. The firing was not intended to harm but to protect lives,” said a police officer who was part of the eviction squad. Several personnel from both the police and the forest department were also injured in the attack. Medical teams were rushed in as the situation spiralled, and reinforcements were called to control the crowd.
Months of Tension
This eviction drive was not an overnight move. According to forest officials, notices had been issued weeks in advance, with repeated appeals made through loudspeakers and community meetings, urging illegal settlers to vacate the forest land voluntarily.
Despite the warnings, many families reportedly stayed put, demanding more time or legal rights to the land they have been occupying, some for decades.
The Paikan Reserve Forest, spread over 711 hectares, is a critical ecological zone that supports a diverse range of flora and fauna. Officials claim that over 140 hectares have been encroached upon, leading to severe deforestation and ecological degradation.
“We cannot afford to lose more of our forest cover. This eviction drive is part of a larger effort to protect Assam’s natural heritage,” said a forest official from the Krishnai range.
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