Assam Opposition Leader Urges Governor to Halt Eviction Drives Affecting Tribal Communities

Leader of Opposition of the Assam Legislative assembly Debabrata Saikia and several other Congress leader in Assam have submitted a memorandum to the Assam governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya urging him to halt ongoing and proposed eviction drives affecting Indigenous, tribal, and erosion-displaced communities across the state.

The Congress leaders further urged the Governor to constitute an independent commission of inquiry into all evictions conducted since 2022, with a special focus on Sixth Schedule districts and Tribal Belt/Block protections.

They have also urged the Governor to direct the Government of Assam to publish a comprehensive land rights regularisation policy, clearly distinguishing long-settled Indigenous occupants from speculative encroachers.

"According to Land Conflict Watch, there are over 60 conflicts over land is going on in Assam at present. There are also allegations that while carrying out evictions, the government has been violating the high court as well as the supreme court guidelines on evictions," said Saikia.

They have also urged the Governor to ensure legal and humane rehabilitation measures, in line with constitutional morality and India's obligations under the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

"The people of Assam-especially its tribals, erosion-displaced citizens, and indigenous communities look to your office as the constitutional conscience of the State. These eviction drives, conducted in the name of "development" without due process or consent, threaten to dispossess the very people whose land rights the Constitution seeks to uphold," Saikia said in the memorandum.

The Leader of the Opposition said that the Assam government's evictions have severely affected various communities, notably the indigenous Baro, Karbi, Garo, and Ahom populations, in addition to Assamese Hindus and minority Muslim communities.

"The Boro-Kachari tribe has a history of 5,000 years in Assam. The Muslim community in Assam possesses an extensive history; its origins, as historical records indicate, trace back to Ali Mech's conversion to Islam in 1206," he said adding that the founders of modern-day Assam, the Ahoms, have a 600-year history in Assam.

"Those who belong to the Bengali-Muslim community of East Bengal origin also have a history of working under the zamindars of Goalpara since the colonial period in Assam. In addition, the British brought the people from this community to Assam under the "Grow More Food" programme. The current tea garden community's origins similarly trace back to the British practice of importing workers from regions such as the Chotanagpur plateau, Central India, and Orissa," Saikia said.

Saikia further said that the Assam Accord signed in 1985 designates those who entered Assam following independence and before March 25, 1971, as entitled to Indian citizenship.

"The memorandum is submitted with a sense of urgency and responsibility as a citizen of the state. The recent development that one has come across draws my concern towards the constitutional values getting eroded with the displacement of communities, where the people are pushed out of their land due to their vulnerability, and encroachment has occurred over the rightful jurisdiction," he said.