Fresh Eviction Drive in Assam: Muslim Students Body Stages Sit-In at Jantar Mantar

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The All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) on Monday staged a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

In September, 800 Muslim families lost home in similar drive

Team Clarion 

NEW DELHI — Weeks after uprooting 800 Muslim families in Darrang district, the Assam government on Sunday launched a fresh eviction drive in a forest reserve in the state’s Hojai district.

The All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) took strong exception to this and on Monday staged a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi alleging that the authorities were selective in the drive targeting only Muslims.

CPI-ML, too, objected to this saying it was aimed at targetting Muslims.

Reports said that authorities used elephants, excavators and tractors to clear the “encroachments” at the Lumding Reserve Forest in Hojai.

A report in The New Indian Express cited official sources claiming that the drive was peaceful and there was no resistance from the people being evicted.

“Many have vacated their houses while others are ready to leave. We are trying to convince some who are refusing to leave,” Hojai Superintendent of Police Barun Purkayastha told TNIE.

In late September, the authorities evicted 800 Muslim families in an evcition drive at Sipahar in Darrang district which faced swift resistance. Two people were shot dead in the police action that sparked national outcry.

The drive is being conducted on the directions of Guwahati High Court which ruled in September that the encroachments should be cleared in a phased manner.

Of the 22,403 hectares around 1,410 hectares are under encroachment in the forest. Around 1,500 families have been living there. They built a school, a church and a mosque and cultivated  ginger and turmeric.

Some of them had moved the high court arguing that they have been living on the land for decades and should be allowed to stay put.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma defended the eviction as he said that the encroachment was a “business for mafia”.

CPI-ML condemned the notices being sent to people. The party said the ongoing eviction drives were aimed at harassing Muslims.

AAMSU submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister in which it accused the Assam government of engaging in an “arbitrary, selective and illegal eviction” of genuine Indians without verifying historical reality, thereby forcing these people to live a “beastly nomadic life”.

“A large section of the religious minority community settled on the banks of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries, ushering in an era of the agricultural revolution. However, they also face the wrath of the rivers as hundreds of hectares of land get submerged due to devastating floods and erosion leading to frequent migration,” the AAMSU said.

It demanded basic amenities be provided to those displaced.

 

theclarionindia
theclarionindiahttps://clarionindia.net
Clarion India - News, Views and Insights about Indian Muslims, Dalits, Minorities, Women and Other Marginalised and Dispossessed Communities.

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