Guwahati: A day after union home minister Amit Shah’s visit, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the Centre was backing and supporting their ongoing eviction drive fully.
Asserting that campaign of the some fundamentalist Muslim leaders like Mr Madani and others is not going to stop their drive, Mr Sarma said, “The Centre completely supports the Assam government’s eviction drive, and will extend all possible help to ensure its logical conclusion.”
Asserting that eviction drive will continue in the state as his government was committed to free encroached land, Mr Sarma said that over 160 sq km land has been cleared of encroachment since his government took over in May 2021.
The chief minister reiterated that all unauthorised occupation of forest land, VGR (Village Grazing Reserve), PGR (Professional Grazing Reserve), Satras, Namghars, and other public areas would be cleared in a phased manner.
It is significant that most of the people displaced due to the eviction drive are from the Bengali-speaking Muslims community, who claim that their ancestors had moved and settled in the areas where drives were carried out after their land in the ‘Char’ or riverine areas were washed away, due to erosion by the Brahmaputra river.
Most of the people displaced due to the eviction drive are from the Bengali-speaking Muslims community, who claim that their ancestors had moved and settled in the areas where drives were carried out after their land in the ‘Char’ or riverine areas were washed away, due to erosion by the Brahmaputra river.
Regarding the issue of infiltration, Sarma said the ‘push back’ is happening on two fronts in the state, with action being taken against both fresh immigrants and those residing after entering post-1971.
Informing 33 infiltrators had been pushed back to Bangladesh, as part of Assam’s ongoing drive against cross-border migration, Mr Sarma said the ‘push back’ is happening on two fronts in the state, with action being taken against both fresh immigrants and those residing after entering post-1971.
Mr Sarma in his social media posted on Saturday said, “Now playing on illegal infiltrators playlist — Assam Police take me home, to the place I belong. 33 new infiltrators have been PUSHED BACK to where they belong — Bangladesh. BEWARE: Our stringent efforts continue and will further intensify in the coming days.”
‘Foreigners who have come post-1971 and residing inside the state are being pushed back under the Immigrant Expulsion Act, which empowers us to do so,’ he said.
In the case of fresh immigrants, we are pushing them back as soon as they are attempting to enter the state from neighbouring Bangladesh, the chief minister said. ‘The process of push back is on and will continue,’ he asserted. Mr Sarma also came down heavily on r Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind President Maulana Mahmood Madani who demanded his removal and criminal action against him over the state’s eviction drives.
Mr Sarma said, “I want to tell Madani and Rahul Gandhi that the more you threaten me and my state, we will take up Lachit Borphukan’s weapon -Hengdang and prove that we know how to live in this country. The indigenous Assamese people are now alert. I challenge them both if they have guts, come and fight with us. Till the last drop of blood, we will fight, and not only fight but win.”
