CPI(ML) demands halt to Assam evictions, accuses BJP of targeting marginalised communities

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation on Friday strongly condemned the ongoing eviction drives in Assam, demanding their immediate cessation. 

The party alleged that the BJP-led state government was targeting Muslims and marginalised communities under the pretext of forest protection and countering illegal infiltration.

In a statement issued by its central committee, CPI(ML) Liberation accused the government of carrying out a “ruthless campaign of corporate land grab and ethnic cleansing.” The party said that the eviction drives, marked by demolitions and alleged police brutality, were deliberately aimed at displacing poor and vulnerable populations.

The condemnation follows a violent clash on Thursday in Goalpara district between security forces and people facing eviction, which reportedly led to the death of one person and left at least 20 others injured. The CPI(ML) cited the incident as evidence of “inhumanity and impunity” in the government's actions.

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A fact-finding team from the party visited Ashudubi village in Goalpara, where they claimed over 1,100 homes were demolished at gunpoint using more than 60 bulldozers. The team, which included MP Sudama Prasad and party leaders from Assam and Bihar, alleged that trenches were dug around the village to prevent aid from reaching the displaced families.

“These evictions have uprooted families who have lived in the region for six to seven decades,” the CPI(ML) said. It also reported that two residents — Sheikh Monirul Islam and Anaruddin Sheikh — died under distress caused by the evictions.

The party accused the BJP of using the narrative of “illegal infiltration” to stoke communal tensions while facilitating land takeovers for corporate entities. 

The CPI(ML) demanded an immediate end to all eviction drives, full rehabilitation for displaced families, and a court-monitored probe into alleged police violence. “The government must be held accountable for the humanitarian crisis it has unleashed in the name of development,” the statement read.

Goalpara Deputy Commissioner Prodip Timung has meanwhile claimed that forest guards and police were attacked by alleged encroachers with stones and sticks when they moved in to secure parts of the Paikan reserve forest.