Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Hatigaon, party legislators Rafiqul Islam, Aminul Islam, and Ashraful Hussain accused the government of targeting Muslims
NEW DELHI — The BJP government of Hemanta Biswa Sarma is deliberately targeting Muslim communities in the ongoing eviction drives under the pretext of forest conservation, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) said on Sunday.
At a press conference at the party headquarters in Hatigaon, AIUDF legislators Rafiqul Islam, Aminul Islam, and Ashraful Hussain launched a scathing attack on the government over the ongoing eviction campaign in Muslim-dominated localities in Goalpara, Dhubri, Kachutoli, and adjoining areas.
The legislators described the evictions as inhumane, unconstitutional, and politically motivated.
Rafiqul Islam, also the party’s general secretary, said authorities have embarked on the campaign flouting court orders and carrying on evictions during the judiciary’s vacation period.
“These are Indian citizens who have been paying land revenue for decades. The government is treating them like encroachers and leaving them to starve on the streets,” he said.
He alleged that the Forest Department had failed to produce accurate land records in court after residents challenged the evictions. “Many of the evicted areas are not classified as forest land, but were arbitrarily declared so by the administration,” media reports quoted Islam as saying.
Islam also raised the issue of unequal treatment, drawing parallels between global and domestic examples.
“If the chief minister, a native of Nalbari, can build a house in Guwahati, and Rishi Sunak can become the prime minister of the UK, then why can’t a poor person shift from one district to another within Assam?” he asked.
The AIUDF has demanded allotment of at least 7 bighas of land to every displaced family, in line with an earlier assurance given by the chief minister in the assembly.
“If land can be gifted to Adani and Ambani, why can’t the government rehabilitate these homeless families?” Islam questioned.
Islam alleged that the ongoing evictions are a strategic move to clear land for corporate interests. “The people need to ask—are these drives really about protecting the forests, or clearing land for Adani?” he said.
He termed the eviction of families from revenue villages, many of whom hold land pattas or tenancy documents, as an act of state-sponsored brutality.
“The government is holding the people of Assam hostage and trying to use fear, force, or emotional tactics to ensure electoral advantage in 2026,” he said, referring to a previous instance of communal unrest in Assam.
He also accused the government of weaponising the issue of illegal immigration.
“For decades, poor Muslims have been harassed in the name of being Bangladeshis. Now, they are being bulldozed without notice,” he said.
Chenga MLA Ashraful Hussain accused the administration of failing to ensure basic humanitarian support for those displaced.
“No food, no clothes, no shelter. The government has failed on all counts,” he said.
He warned that the current regime would go down in history as “cruel and thoughtless,” calling the chief minister a “modern-day Hitler” and a “brainless executioner.”
Concluding the press meet, the AIUDF leaders collectively pledged to resist what they called the government’s “fascist and anarchic” actions. They called for judicial intervention and urged human rights bodies to take immediate notice of the evictions.
