Himanta flags 'conspiracy' behind landless people moving to where Hindus, Assamese Muslims live

Amid ongoing eviction controversy in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that there could be a "conspiracy" behind erosion-hit and landless people moving 200-300 kms away from their native places to settle in areas where "Hindus or Assamese Muslims" are in the majority.

Sarma also asserted that demographic balance is being threatened due to such migration of people in places where his government carried out eviction drives to clear encroached land.

Most of the evicted people are Bengali-speaking Muslims.

“Our issue is why they are going to places 200-300 km away where Hindus or Assamese Muslims live. As a result, our people are suffering from insecurity. That’s why the issue is not only eviction, but along with it, a hidden conspiracy to make us a minority,” Sarma said.

The state government carried out two major eviction operations in Dhubri and Goalpara districts during the week to clear over 4,500 bighas of encroached land, including reserve forests.

“Whether it is conspiracy or poverty, or political people are behind it, it needs to be investigated,” the chief minister said.

About 8 lakh bighas of government land is under encroachment in various places, including forests, he said.

“We don’t like carrying out eviction drives and pushing people out. But the Supreme Court and the high court have given strict orders that forest land, VGR, PGR land should not be encroached,” Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of a programme in Darrang.

In Assam, Village Grazing Reserve (VGR) and Professional Grazing Reserve (PGR) lands are lands where cattle are fed grass.

Sarma claimed that while eviction drives are going on, it has come to light that people from far-off areas have encroached on the areas.

“We did evictions in Lakhimpur (northern Assam) and found that people from South Salmara (western part) and Karimganj (now Sribhumi, in southern end) were encroaching there. If I am landless, I will look for land in my own district,” Sarma asserted.

A study is needed on these immigration patterns, the chief minister said.

He asked, “Did these people shift due to poverty, or did someone bring them for votes to areas where Assamese people are the majority and they (Assamese) can be turned into a minority?” “Landless people from Darrang settling in Gorukhuti, or from Goalpara to Pakian is understandable, though it may not be good. But why are people from South Salmara, Mankachar, Barpeta, Sribhumi going to upper and northern Assam?” the chief minister said.

He cited the example of Sarupathar constituency in Golaghat district, and claimed that its demographic pattern has been changed as people from Dhing and Rupohi in Nagaon district have settled in large numbers there.

He said that if genuine citizens who are erosion-affected petition the district commissioner, they would be allotted land in the ‘chars’, which are large sandbars in riverine areas.

Sarma, at a press conference in Guwahati on Thursday, had asserted that eviction drives would continue in the state, with over 25,000 acres of land having been cleared of encroachment in the last four years.

The Congress, however, has criticised the eviction drives and promised that all Indian citizens, who have been evicted from land during the BJP rule will be compensated if the opposition party comes to power in the state.

Assembly elections in the state are due next year.