Assam government evicts 309 families from Biswanath grazing reserve

The Assam government on Sunday carried out an eviction drive in Biswanath district, displacing 309 families from land reserved for grazing.

The drive began in the morning to clear nearly 175 bigha (23 hectares) of encroached land in the Village Grazing Reserve (VGR) at Japariguri, officials said.

District Commissioner Simanta Kumar Das said the eviction went on peacefully. Notices were issued on August 1, asking residents to vacate within 15 days. Most families had already left, dismantling their houses, while the remaining structures—including a tea garden—were demolished.

Around 600 security personnel were deployed, along with 20 excavators and dozens of tractors.

Another official said the encroachers were mostly from the Bengali-speaking Muslim community.

All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) General Secretary Kuddus Ali Sarkar, who visited the site, alleged that the government has been evicting people in an "inhuman manner" and demanded a halt until rehabilitation is ensured.

Several ethnic organisations have meanwhile expressed support for the evictions, linking them to the 'Miya Kheda Andolan'—a movement calling for the removal of alleged encroachers.

'Miya', once used as a pejorative term for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, has in recent years been adopted by activists from the community as a gesture of defiance.

In his Independence Day speech, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that "aggression" has changed the demography of lower and central Assam, and that similar efforts were being made in upper and north Assam.