Guwahati, Aug 11: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asserted on Monday that the state’s anti-encroachment drives are not targeted at “minority-dominated” areas, but in forests or other reserved land illegally occupied by ‘Miya-Muslims’.
‘Miya’ is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and the non-Bengali speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants.
Sarma claimed that ‘Miya-Muslims’ have half of the state’s land in their possession by occupying the ‘chars’ (vegetative riverine areas), where other communities have not settled.
“Eviction is not in minority-dominated areas. Eviction drives are for ‘Miya-Muslims’ who have encroached on forest land, or VGR (village grazing reserve), PGR (professional grazing reserve) land,” Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of a programme in Chirang.
Maintaining that “our people do not encroach reserved land”, Sarma said, “If there are Bodo people, Mising people (on forest land), they might be eligible for ‘patta’ (ownership). But, non-tribals cannot get ‘patta’ (in forest land).”
Continuing with his criticism of the ‘Miya-Muslims’, the CM said, “We have given them so much land in chars. We haven’t gone to the chars. Bodos, Misings, Assamese, Bengalis, Biharis, they haven’t gone there.
“Half of Assam’s land is there for them at the chars. From the chars, they want to go to Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat (upper Assam districts). How can that happen? Where will the Assamese people stay?”
On the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) opposing the eviction drives and staging a protest in Dhubri during the day, Sarma said it can arrange meetings and people may attend those.
“But, we will do what we have committed to doing. If AAMSU creates more noise, more evictions will be carried out,” he asserted.
About reports that land cleared in Golaghat and Karbi Anglong districts will be handed to industry bigwigs, he said, “Plantation is being done in the cleared land. Even Adani, Ambani can come to plant trees. If they set up industries in those places, there is nothing wrong. I am all for inviting them, but they won’t come as these are distant places.”
The chief minister also downplayed opposition criticism of eviction drives, maintaining that the public has benefited from the welfare schemes of the government, and they will not heed to “bad-mouthing” of the ruling dispensation.
Sarma had earlier said that eviction drives will continue till all encroached land is cleared, claiming that huge tracts are under the possession of “illegal Bangladeshis and doubtful citizens”.
He had said that 29 lakh bighas (more than 9.5 lakh acres) of land is still under encroachment in the state, and 1.29 lakh bighas (over 42,500 acres) have been cleared in the last four years. (PTI)
