Evictions not aimed at any religion, Himanta says at Lahorighat rally

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday that the state's eviction drives will continue wherever needed to protect forest land and reduce conflict between people and elephants, but insisted they are not directed at any religious group.

"Wherever there is a need, eviction will take place, but it is not targeted at any particular religion," Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of a rally at Lahorighat in Nagaon district, The Assam Tribune reported.

"Find land in your own district"

Sarma said genuinely landless people can apply for land under the state's Basundhara scheme, but should look for it in their home areas rather than settle on land elsewhere.

"If a person belongs to Dhing, they should be able to find land in Dhing rather than having to travel to Golaghat or elsewhere," he said. "If a person from Hojai goes to Dibrugarh and encroaches on land, there will be a reaction."

The remarks come as eviction drives continue in several districts, including the operation around the historic Jamuna tank in Sivasagar this week.

Bridge and road promises

The rally was held to thank voters in the Nagaon area after the recent by-election. Sarma said he had promised during the campaign to return, and came even though the BJP finished second in the Lahorighat and Samaguri segments, because the party had still drawn a large vote there.

On a long-standing demand for a bridge at Lahorighat, he said the project would need an investment of around Rs 4,000 crore and that he was working on it. He listed bridges already under construction, among them Dhubri-Phulbari, Palasbari-Sualkuchi and Majuli-Jorhat, along with one near Pancharatna, and said his next target was a bridge linking Morigaon and Darrang.

He also said:

• a 30-km road would be provided in the Lahorighat constituency soon;
• the demand for a Moirabari-Buragaon road was noted, and another road would be built in the constituency;
• residents could send further demands through Nagaon MP Devasish Sharma.

"We have promised several projects here, but the work will go beyond those commitments," Sarma said.

Swipe at Congress

Sarma also attacked the Congress, saying it had finished third in the by-election and that voters had rejected its leaders Asif Nazar and Rakibul Hussain. He said the result might be different if the party changed its leadership.

Background

The Sarma government has carried out repeated eviction drives on what it describes as encroached government, forest and grazing land. Opposition parties and some civil society groups have accused the government of disproportionately targeting Bengali-origin Muslim settlers, a charge the Chief Minister has consistently denied.