CM calls for community movement against encroachment, flags land grab ‘pattern’

Guwahati, Aug 6: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Wednesday, called on the Assamese community to raise its voice against illegal immigration and encroachment in culturally significant areas of Upper Assam, while stressing that such protests must remain within the ambit of the law.

Speaking to the press in Guwahati during the inauguration of the Nijut Moina 2.0 form distribution drive, the Chief Minister said, “If somebody tries to enter the areas that are the very foundation of the community, people will raise their voices. Lakhimpur, Jorhat, and Sivasagar are the prime centres of Assamese culture and identity. If someone enters these prime centres and no one raises a voice, who will rescue the community?”

Clarifying that his comments should not be seen as a nod to vigilantism, Sarma highlighted the need for peaceful community mobilisation.

“The community must raise its voice and lead movements against such developments without taking the law into their hands. The law must be left to the police and the court. If the community does not protest, how will the authorities and the law know about these issues?” he said.

The remarks come amid recent instances of civil vigilante groups in Upper Assam asserting themselves against what they allege to be illegal settlements and demographic changes.

The Chief Minister also flagged a pattern he believes is being used to facilitate land encroachment in Assam.

Terming it the “house-beef-mosque” pattern, he said, “First, people rent houses, then they kill the cow, then they establish the mosque, and the Satra of the area is removed from there. That is the pattern in Assam.”

Citing Uriamghat in Golaghat district as an example of large-scale encroachment, Sarma dismissed claims that the settlers there were victims of erosion.

“Had the Uriamghat evictees been victims of soil erosion, they would have occupied a small plot measuring 1.5–2 kathas. That is not the case. In Uriamghat, we have seen that hectares of land have been converted into water bodies where the occupants are now doing business,” he said.

Earlier this week, the Chief Minister had warned against offering shelter to evicted individuals, stating that such actions could undo the gains made through recent eviction drives.

“If people give shelter to the evicted, the improved position of our people will become bad again,” he had said in Baksa, BTR, on August 4.