‘Over 90% of Assam encroached’
Amidst the growing apprehension among the indigenous people about the swelling population of illegal migrants, the Committee for Protection of Land Rights of Indigenous People, headed by former Chief Election Commissioner Hari Shankar Brahma, has stated that unrestricted infiltration from Bangladesh has reduced indigenous people of Assam to a landless class of people.
The committee was constituted by the Assam government for protection of land rights of indigenous persons in February this year. The committee, in its interim report which was submitted to the Assam government, said, “Illegal migration is the greatest threat to the security and identity of the indigenous people of the state. Such migrants are grabbing government and other land with active support of a section of fundamentalist and political leaders.”
It is significant that the Guwahati high court had found a case where a Pakistani national, who entered Assam through Bangladesh, even managed to contest elections from the state. The report, which has sparked protest and angry reaction in the state, said that if a proper survey is conducted, it would be clear that more than 90 per cent of encroachments in the state have been done by illegal Bangladeshis in a professionally organised way. Consequently, the interim report said, many illegal new villages have sprung up overnight not only in the char (riverine) areas but also in the reserved land of various kinds. The government’s position has all along been one of facilitator and connivers to such infiltrators, it said.
Meanwhile, All Assam Students Union, which has been in the forefront of anti-foreigners movement in the state, has demanded a new legislation to protect the land rights of indigenous people. However, Congress has rejected the report. Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi said that Mr Brahma, who headed the committee, was also the Chief Election Commission of India and he had an opportunity to delete the names of illegal migrants from voters list.
The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) questioned the very basis of the committee’s claim. The AIUDF said, “Mr Brahma should also explain the basis on which he concluded that 90 per cent of Assam land has been encroached upon by illegal migrants.”