Assam Govts Eviction Drive Leaves 800 Families Homeless, Move Faces Backlash

A massive eviction drive at Sipajhar in Assam’s Darrang district, carried out by the Darrang district administration and a huge contingent of armed security personnel on Monday has left about 800 families homeless. 

The drive was conducted at No.1 and No. 3 Dholpur village- a riverine area, using 14 JCBs and 1500 security personnel to clear around 4500 bighas of government land. 

The move has left the families living in the area devastated. “We got a notice on Saturday that our shops will be evicted. There was little time to shift things. We have been living here since 1979. There are about 22 shops in our village and all dismantled which resulted in a loss of Rs 30 lakh,” Mir Sirajul Haque (47), a resident and shopowner at No. 3 Dholpur village was quoted by TOI, as saying.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that the eviction was aimed at “starting community farming by removing encroachment.”

Human rights advocate Aman Wadud condemned the eviction. “Assam govt has evicted 650 Muslim families at Dholpur today. These landless ppl were residing in a river island,not in any posh govt/forest lands. Govt wants to use these lands for ‘agricultural purpose’. Stop this pretension, tell the real reason – your votes will only increase,” he tweeted.

However, Chief Minister Sarma complimented the district administration of Darrang and the Assam police for clearing “about 4500 bigha, by evicting 800 households, demolishing 4 illegal religious structures and a private instn at Sipajhar, Darrang.”

Darrang additional DC Pankaj Kumar Deka reportedly said that some of the families have been given temporary shelter. 

The eviction drive has sparked criticism from activists and opposition leaders.

CPI-ML called the move a part of “communal, genocidal and xenophobic policy of the BJP State Govt” in which “1000s of poor Bengali-descent Muslims – are being violently evicted from their land and homes in Assam. This is illegal eviction not ‘illegal encroachment’ – stop it now.”

Responding to the report of eviction, Congress MP Abdul Khaleque revived his demand that he had made in June for putting such exercise in “abeyance”. “Considering the Covid-19 pandemic, a full bench of Hon’ble Gauhati High Court headed by chief justice, vide its order dated 10.05.2021 has ordered that any decree for eviction/dispossession or demolition should remain in abeyance,” he tweeted.