AJYCP holds massive protest in Guwahati, demands legal safeguards for indigenous land rights

The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) on Tuesday organized a massive protest at Lakhidhar Bora Kshetra in Guwahati, demanding robust legal mechanisms to safeguard the land rights of Assam’s indigenous communities.

Thousands of supporters, activists, and concerned citizens took part in the sit-in demonstration, raising slogans against what they described as the continued marginalisation of native populations. The protesters reiterated their longstanding demand for the introduction of an inter-state permit system and the formulation of legal provisions to protect ancestral land from being acquired by non-indigenous entities.

AJYCP leaders urged both the state and central governments to enact stronger policy measures to protect land ownership rights of indigenous residents and curb unchecked migration from other states. They alleged that in the absence of effective legislation, indigenous populations are being pushed to the margins economically, culturally, and geographically.

“An inter-state permit system is essential to prevent demographic imbalance and secure the rights of the sons of the soil,” said one of the senior leaders addressing the crowd.

The protest also served as a platform for AJYCP to criticize the state government’s recent stance linking land eviction drives with illegal Bangladeshi immigration. AJYCP president Palash Changmai termed the narrative as “utterly baseless” and “misleading.”

Changmai asserted that the real solution lies not in arbitrary eviction campaigns, but in targeted identification and lawful action against illegal immigrants through a well-structured and evidence-based process.

He warned that such sweeping narratives only divert attention from the core issue and risk further alienating indigenous communities already struggling to protect their rights