Gorukhuti Violence: Assam’s Battle Against ‘Land Jihad’ Must Continue

                           

    The violent episode of September 23 in Assam during a state government eviction drive is much in discussion. However, the point of debate in national media becomes the visuals of few seconds where Assam police were seen firing gunshots on the encroachers. But at the age of social media, it took barely a few hours for the whole video to come into the public domain where it could be clearly seen that a mob of thousands of Bangladeshi origin Muslim encroachers equipped with rods, sticks, and even swords tried to stop the police force from carrying the eviction drive in Assam's Darrang district in Gorukhati.

    Though a section of media, political class tried to spin the narrative that Assam police was brutal during the eviction drive against the land encroachers. Few even went ahead to paint the event as a malicious attempt to demonize the Muslims of Assam.

    But as usual, they failed to see the brutality that the team of Assam police may have faced at the hands of thousands of bloodthirsty mob that assembled in Goukhati to launch a war against the Assam police. The champions of human rights must understand that the police team who went there also has their human rights. They were not there to surrender to the bloodthirsty Islamist mob and die.

    Encroachments of land and resources by Bangladeshi Muslims have remained a troubling issue for the socio-political aspect of Assam.

    The eviction drive that turned violent in Assam was launched on Monday at Dholpur village of Darrang district. It continued peacefully for the next two days, and 4,500 bighas of land were evicted from the Bangladeshi Muslim encroachers. But on Thursday (Sept 23), the Bangladeshi encroachers in thousands attacked Assam police and eviction team.

    If one sees Gorukhuti from a historical perspective, then also it presents a negative picture. In 1983, in the same Gorukhuti, 6 Assamese youths were lynched to death by illegal Bangladeshi Muslim encroachers. The names of 6 Assamese youths were Bhabani Goswami, Jatin Saharia, Muja Bora, Dimbeswar Deka, Khitai Deka, Dayaram Sharma, Hargobinda Goswami.

    In 2013, in reply to the RTI application, the government informed that a whopping 77,000 bighas of land are under encroachments in the Darrang district.

   Assam government wants these encroached lands to be freed for Gorukhuti multi-project whose objective is to use these land for organic farmings and bring livelihood to thousands of youth in the state.

    No one can precisely say on whose insistence these encroachers suddenly decided to resist the eviction drive so aggressively. According to the Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, an Islamist outfit PFI could be behind this entire episode.

    Ironically, despite knowing that Assam has been facing demographic invasion due to unchecked illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims, several intellectuals and political groups in the state have showered their support for encroachers.

    To understand the gravity of land encroachments and infiltrations issue, one can read the government's RTI reply, which states that around 4 lakh hectares of forestland in Assam have been encroached by Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants. This is about 22% of Assam's forest cover. Imagine in a state where 22% of state forestland has been encroached, can the state government allow encroachers to sit on the natural resources of Assam meant for indigenous people?

    There is no shred of doubt that these encroachers and infiltrators add political value to some political ecosystem electorally. They see their bright political future in these encroachers, but what about the future of the indigenous people of Assam? How long will the people of Assam remain deprived of their land and resources?

    Land encroachments by Bangladeshi Muslims over the years are not simply based on economic reasons. It could be part of a long ongoing project of Greater Bangladeshi that wants Assam to be a part of Bangladesh at a certain point in time. To fulfill this long-standing project, Islamist uses the strategy of Ghazwa-e-hind that outlines strategies of demographic invasions to make the cause of Greater Bangladesh stronger.

    The people of Assam have been paying the cost of illegal immigration and encroachments. The areas where illegal immigrants have encroached land are now turning into a hotspot of major crimes. Most of the crimes are against non-Muslims who find it difficult to sustain themselves in those areas. Even indigenous Assamese Muslims are also under the shadow of losing their existence.

    In the early 19th century, during British rule, there were only 4 percents Muslims in Assam. These 4 percents were indigenous Muslims, but today the percentage has surged to 34%, of which most of them are Bangladeshi Muslims posing a demographical threat.

    The leadership of Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma has shown a solid and decisive resolve in fixing the historical unfixed and freeing the land and resources of Assam from encroachments. The state government of Assam must continue to work on this for a better future for the people of Assam.