Bharatiya Janta Party-led Assam government and the opposition headed by the Congress are consistently at loggerheads concerning the eviction campaign by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, which seeks to recover encroached land from unlawful occupants, especially those who have intruded from Bangladesh.

Gaurav Gogoi, the President of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee initiated a new attack on the chief minister on 3rd August and announced that land “illegally” held by the latter as well as his cabinet will be allocated to the underprivileged people if the opposition party secures power in the state in the next year assembly elections.

He asserted that the people have grown tired of the present government, in a press conference following the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee’s Extended Executive Meeting.

“Land illegally held by the chief minister and his ministers acquired under the pretense of safeguarding land rights, will be redistributed to the poor through a decision in the very first cabinet meeting of the new Congress government,” the Jorhat Lok Sabha MP stated. He also outlined that his party would introduce significant changes to both land and economic policy in order to help the populace.

Gogoi charged that under the pretence of development, the administration was discriminating against Bodos, Tiwas, Karbis, Rabhas, Misings and other communities as well as accused it of treating linguistic and religious minorities in an unfair manner. Additionally, he alleged that these evictions were conducted against court orders.

The Congressman added, “Unlike the loot and injustice under the Himanta Biswa Sarma regime, Congress is preparing to bring a new government based on progressive land policies and economic development.” He even emphasised that it is his responsibility to carry out Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi’s promise that Assamese would witness Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in prison.

The Gandhi scion, currently on bail in the National Herald corruption case alongside his mother Sonia Gandhi, was met with a strong retort from Sarma who asked, “What is the guarantee that Rahul Gandhi will not be jailed before I am.” He also ridiculed the statement with a dismisssive “thenga” gesture and added that it was inappropriate for a national leader to make such outrageous claims.

The truth of the eviction drive

The Congress is evidently displeased with the actions taken regarding encroachment drives in Assam, labeling it a breach of court orders. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Gauhati High Court instructed Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram to establish a high-level committee aimed at addressing encroachments in forest regions along the inter-state borders of these four northeastern states.

A report by Union environment ministry to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) highlighted that the state’s total forest area under encroachment as of March 2024 was 3,620.9 square kilometres (3,62,090 hectares) second only to Madhya Pradesh in the country.

After the petitions brought attention to the detrimental effects of encroachment on wildlife and forest conservation, the Gauhati high court specifically ordered the Assam government to remove encroachments from protected forest areas. Notably, the state’s decades-long unchecked forest land encroachment has had the greatest effect on wildlife habitats, triggering a high rate of human-animal conflict specifically involving elephants.

Elephant pathways and habitats are disrupted by encroachment into forest regions, resulting in frequent and occasionally fatal encounters between humans and wildlife. Assam in particular districts like Goalpara has some of the highest incidences of human-elephant conflict in India. Furthermore, the high court has regularly issued orders over the past few years to clear the forest land of encroachers.

However, it appears that the Congress party and its leaders are more concerned with a lawfully orchestrated operation than with the illegal occupants who have been abusing the state’s resources and land. They are negatively impacting its biodiversity and infringing on the rights of the state’s legitimate citizens and even its animals.

The Congress exhibits such a profound desire to appease a particular community, irrespective of their nationality, that they are currently aligning with encroachment for the sake of minor political benefits. More importantly, Sarma already accused the grand old party of provoking the intruders in Sonapur’s Kosutoli locality, last year.

“Congress and other fundamentalist forces instigated the encroachers. They attacked the police. The slogan that was being used in Bangladesh, they are using the same slogan here now. After the action of Assam Police, the area has become peaceful again and the eviction work is going on,” he mentioned.

Similarly, violence transpired during the government’s action in the Goalpara district after which Sarma accused that the Rae Bareli MP urged “encroachers” and “land jehadis” to unlawfully occupy government land during a state-level Congress meeting with party workers in Chaygaon.

“He said they would be rehabilitated on the same forest land and given houses, but he doesn’t realise you cannot settle people on forest land,” the chief minsiter added after the protestors hurled stones and used weapons which injured 21 cops.

Sarma’s grave allegations against Gogoi

While a scorned Gaurav Gogoi spares no opportunity to attack Sarma, the latter has already levelled serious allegations against him, including links to Pakistan’s intelligence agency. His British wife, Elizabeth Coulburn had been found to have links with a Pakistani person.

She works at the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) in Delhi as a project manager and Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, a Pakistani, is its Regional Director for Asia. He has a track record of disseminating false information about India, particularly through his X account. He even voiced his support for Gogoi regarding the discussion of the Delhi riots in Parliament.

The chief minsiter in February had accused, “Serious questions need to be answered regarding allegations of ISI links, leading young individuals to the Pakistan Embassy for brainwashing and radicalization. and the refusal to take Indian citizenship for the past 12 years. Additionally, participation in a conversion cartel and receiving funds from external sources, including George Soros, to destabilize national security are grave concerns that cannot be ignored.”

The same was recently brought up by Home Minister Amit Shah when he pointed out, “You have been to Pakistan many times but have you ever gone via the border Gogoi, do you understand the conditions our soldiers face,” while addressing Gogoi, the deputy leader of Congress in the lower house, amid discussion on “Operation Sindoor.”

Moreover, the Assam government took action and demolished multiple madrasas as it discovered that radical religious training was taking place in the name of religious education. It was even uncovered that many madrasa administrators were connected to terrorist groups in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Predictably, these demolitions were vehemently opposed by radical religious leaders who aimed to incite societal unrest. Interestingly, when Gogoi was elected chief of Assam Congress, he had a planned itinerary in the Barak Valley to meet extremist Maulana Ahmed Sayeed Govindpuri and went to madrasas. He followed the program during the night, away from the public eye and under the pretext of visiting flood-affected regions.

Assam’s relentless anti-encroachment action

Notwithstanding all the objections from the opposition or fundamentalists, the Sarma government is unwavering in its pursuit of action against individuals who have unlawfully occupied the land that justly belongs to the state of Assam.

The administration cleared approximately 8,900 bighas of land and demolished more than 4,000 unlawful structures from the Renga Reserve forest in the Golaghat district in the last five days.

An official statement read, “Over the course of five days, vast stretches of encroached forest land have been reclaimed, with illegal structures dismantled across key high-density zones including Bidyapur, Pithaghat, Sonaribeel, Doyalpur, Dolonipathar, Kherbari, Anandapur and Madhupur.” 

Another 205 homes in the Negheribil neighbourhood under Merapani of the Doyang Reserve Forest in the Golaghat district have also received notices to vacate before the action commences on 8th August.

The chief minister reported that “Bangladeshi infiltrators and doubtful citizens” are reportedly occupying about 29 lakh bighas or roughly 10 lakh acres of land in Assam. He delivered the startling revelations on 21st July at a celebration of the Multipurpose Agricultural Project’s fourth anniversary in the Darang district’s Garukhuti. 77,420 bighas of land (25,500 acres) have been cleansed of encroachments since the project’s inception in 2021.

“After the successful execution of the (eviction) campaign in the Darang district, the initiative was also extended to Borsola, Lumding, Burhapahar, Pabha, Batadrava, Chapar and Paikan. In the last four years, we have reclaimed 1.29 lakh bigha (around 43,000 acres) of occupied land. A considerable portion of it is now being allocated for forest development and the citizens of the state,” he informed.

“The Assam government has reclaimed 182 square kilometers of land from encroachers. Now these same infiltrators are demanding a separate ‘Miya Land’ state. Their dream will surely come true, not in India but in Bangladesh or Afghanistan. I will definitely assist them in reaching there,” the chief minister conveyed on 31st July after encroached land was cleared.

Even revered Hindu locations are vulnerable to encorachers as 15,288.52 bighas of Satra (Vaishnavite monasteries) territory is also illegally encroached upon. However, the government began a vigorous campaign to free the lands from unlawful invasion after Sarma vowed to rectify the problem.

According to the chief minister, all Deputy Commissioners have been instructed to seek out and remove encroachers from forest regions. They are told to ensure that the Forest Rights Act’s protections for indigenous and tribal communities, who are acknowledged as the original inhabitants, are upheld.

Additionally, he emphasized the massive scale of encroachment and noted that it will require a minimum of ten years to complete the drive. It is due to the significant number of illegal immigrants who have occupied forest property in various districts.

Conclusion

The Congress party is preoccupied with attacking Sarma and his ministers while the Assam government is working to recover the land from illegal encroachments for the benefit of the state and its residents.

It is unexpected for the Congress to not cater to its Muslim supporters, however, it has blurred the boundaries between Indian and Bangladeshi Muslims in its persistent quest of vote-bank politics.

Clearly, the eviction drive is being performed in a lawful manner and in accordance with the order of the Gauhati High Court. However, the opposition appears to be unconcerned with the facts and is focused solely on turning this critical issue into a political tool for short-term electoral gain.