Assam BJP and Congress trade blame over indigenous people’s land rights

Amid the persistent issue of land rights for indigenous people in Assam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress traded allegations against each other.

While the ruling party affirmed its "resolute" stand in protecting the state’s heritage, the opposition camp accused the government of acting like a "real estate broker" for big companies.

The Congress alleged that the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led state government was "grabbing" tribal land in the Sixth Schedule areas to hand over the resources to investors, besides carrying out "targeted eviction drives" across the state.

BJP state president Dilip Saikia said the party and the state government would continue with their efforts, guided by the unwavering resolve to safeguard the rightful place of the indigenous people in their homeland.

“Himanta Biswa Sarma is attacking the fundamentals of the Sixth Schedule area as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. The power of the Sixth Schedule council is now with Sarma, and he operates it through remote control,” state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi alleged at a press conference in Diphu.

“The proof is how Sarma is taking away thousands of bighas of land from the tribal communities and giving these land parcels to people of his choice,” Gogoi claimed, referring to proposed industrial and other investment in the Sixth Schedule areas of Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao and Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).

The Congress leader alleged that 41,000 bighas of tribal land are being “taken away by the CM”, and leaders of autonomous councils have been “silent”.

“The leadership of these councils have become weak and ineffective. They cannot protect their own people and have betrayed them…The Himanta Biswa Sarma government is acting like a real estate broker. But the Congress will fight for the land rights of the tribal people,” he claimed.

A Congress Legislative Party (CLP) delegation, led by the Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia, called on Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya and submitted a memorandum, soliciting “constitutional intervention against the dispossession of tribals, indigenous, minorities and other families from their rightful properties on the pretext of development”.

The memorandum claimed that the state government’s evictions have “severely affected various communities, like Boro, Karbi, Garo and Ahom, besides Assamese Hindus and Muslims”.

The party urged the governor to halt ongoing and proposed eviction drives “affecting indigenous, tribal and erosion-displaced communities, and constitute an independent commission of inquiry into all evictions conducted since 2022, with a special focus on Sixth Schedule districts and Tribal Belt/Block”.

The CLP leader also sought the governor’s direction to the state government to publish a comprehensive land rights regularisation policy, clearly “distinguishing long-settled indigenous occupants from speculative encroachers, and ensure legal and humane rehabilitation measures”.

Meanwhile, BJP’s state chief Saikia said the Assam government and the party are ‘resolute and uncompromising’ in their commitment to protecting Assam’s identity, land and heritage.

“We will continue our efforts relentlessly, guided by the unwavering resolve to safeguard the rightful place of the indigenous people in their own homeland,” he said in a release.

He claimed that the ‘satras’ (Vasihnavite monasteries) are “under siege, with 922 satras currently encroached upon”.

“Our government and the party remain unwaveringly committed to restoring the lost glory and heritage of these revered institutions,” the BJP leader said.

He alleged that instead of protecting the rights of the indigenous people during the nearly 70 years of its rule here since Independence, the Congress “relied on a particular religious community for its vote bank”.

“This dangerous political appeasement has emboldened illegal infiltrators and led to the encroachment of thousands of bighas of land across Assam,” the state BJP chief claimed.

He dared Gogoi and Congress’ Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain to publicly appeal to encroachers to vacate occupied land peacefully.

“Otherwise, it will only reaffirm what is already evident — that the Congress party has, for decades, served the interests of a specific community at the cost of the indigenous people of Assam,” the BJP state chief alleged.

He maintained that the government is ensuring land rights for the indigenous people and also taking steps to free satra land from illegal encroachment.

“We will continue our efforts relentlessly, guided by the unwavering resolve to safeguard the rightful place of the indigenous people in their homeland,” Saikia added.