Over 1,000 cops deployed ahead of next eviction drive in Assam, 2,000 families likely to be affected

“The forest department has divided the area into nine blocks and the residents have been given notices to vacate the area in seven days. In preparation for the eviction, more than 1,500 forces including police, commandos and forest protection personnel have been deployed there,” said a district official.

This will be the latest in a spate of evictions in the state, mostly affecting Bengali-origin Muslims, which the Assam government has called a means to stem “demographic invasion” by “people of one religion”.

The Uriamghat eviction in particular has seen a two-week long campaign, led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, leading up to it with him holding it up as a prime case of Bengali Muslims from Central and Western Assam – where their population is concentrated – moving into Eastern Assam, which he has been declaring needs to be protected from “demographic invasion”. He has stated that encroachers have cleared forests in this area for widespread betel nut cultivation.

“More than 90% of the people have already cleared their possessions and left. Apart from Bengali Muslims, 42 Manipuri Muslim and 92 Nepali families have also been asked to evacuate from the area,” BJP’s Sarupathat MLA Biswajit Phukan, in whose constituency the eviction will take place, told The Indian Express on accusations of the eviction being a targeted exercise.

He went on to say: “There are 150 Bodo families who also live, but they will not be evicted since they have forest rights certificates in line with the 2006 Forest Rights Act. Representatives from the All Assam Minority Students Union also met the Chief Minister when he visited the site last week and the government will consider giving lawful compensation if there are families who were there before 1971, but first the eviction will have to be done”.

In anticipation of the eviction, the Nagaland government has also gone into high alert in the past week. The affected area is located along the Assam-Nagaland border and the Nagaland government has stationed police and district administration personnel along the border in a bid to prevent evicted people from entering the state.

On Sunday, the Niki Sumi faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), added another layer to the matter by issuing a statement alleging that the eviction is being used by the Assam government for a “well-planned and precisely executed plan” to “occupy” and permanently station police personnel on disputed land along the inter-state border.