Ethnic groups in Upper Assam gives ultimatum to illegal settlers
In Assam, several ethnic organisations have launched the ‘Miya Kheda Andolan’ supporting state-led eviction drives against alleged encroachers, mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims. The movement stresses indigenous identity protection, with rallies and boycotts, while CM Himanta Biswa Sarma backed evictions but urged adherence to law
Dibrugarh: Supporting Assam government’s steps to evict alleged encroachments from various forests, several ethnic organisations have started ‘Miya Kheda Andolan’ (movement to drive out Miyas) in many districts of the state.
The ‘Miya Kheda Andolan’ has gained momentum in Upper Assam districts in recent times with local groups accusing the ‘Miya’ settlers of encroaching on their ancestral lands and forests.
The movement’s leadership comprises local politicians, student leaders and community activists who articulate their demands through a lens of indigenous rights and demographic preservation.
They argue that the continued presence of ‘Miya’ Muslims threatens the very essence of Assamese identity and undermines the political and economic rights of the indigenous population.
‘Miya’ is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam and the non-Bengali speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance.
“Illegal Bangladeshi Muslims must be deported from Assam. Therefore, the Government of Assam should take strong action against them. The Miya Muslims are starting to change the demography of Upper Assam as they have already done to Lower Assam,” All Tai Ahom Students’ Union (ATASU) president Milan Buragohain said.
Claiming that people of Lower Assam are in an identity crisis nowadays, he opined that indigenous people will be found only in ‘zoos’ after a few days if this trend of demography change continues unabated.
“They are planning to make the whole of Assam a Muslim state by illegally settling in rural areas of different parts and doing business. Therefore, the ATASU has ordered Miya people to leave Upper Assam immediately,” Buragohain said.
Stating that there are many organisations in Assam that have started the Miya expulsion movement, he urged the people of Upper Assam to support this movement.
“We also warned all parties and companies not to hire Miya people in various business establishments, brick kilns and other units as employees and daily labourers,” Buragohain said.
A few days ago, ATASU had organised a rally in Dibrugarh asking ‘Miya’ people to leave Upper Assam.
In the last 15 days, the Assam government has cumulatively cleared alleged encroachments more than 11,500 bighas (over 1,500 hectares) of land from Rengma Reserve Forest, Nambor South Reserve Forest and Doyang Reserve Forest in Golaghat district, and Village Grazing Reserve in Lakhimpur.
These drives have displaced more than 2,200 families, mostly from the Bengali-speaking Muslim community.
Bir Lachit Sena, another Upper Assam-based group, took out several marches in the last few days, primarily in Sivasagar, Jorhat and Tinsukia districts, and asked the “doubtful” citizens to leave those areas immediately.
“This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue. This is a fight to protect indigenous identity. We take a pledge to continue the agitation until illegal migrants are expelled and action is taken against those supporting them,” Bir Lachit Sena president Srinkhal Chaliha said.
All Assam Motok Yuva Chatra Sanmilan (AAMYCS) general secretary Swaroop Gohain welcomed the eviction drives by the state government, and demanded to make the historic places and the tribe’s monuments free from encroachments by illegal occupants.
“We also strongly oppose the recent Assam Cabinet decision to withdraw the cases and give citizenship to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Persis and Buddhists religious foreigners, who came to Assam before December 31, 2014 through the Citizenship (Amendment) Act,” he added.
Hindu Kranti Dal (HKD), a smaller religion-based group, alleged that most of the politicians have never paid attention to this issue of illegal foreigners with due seriousness, leading to gradual change in the demography of Assam.
“It’s good that people have become aware of this Miya aggression and various local organisations like Bir Lachit Sena, Chilarai Sena, All Koch-Rajbongshi Students’ Union (AKRSU), AAMYCS, ATASU and others have taken the lead in this regard,” HKD working president (Assam) Siddarth Sharma said.
All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) too has extended its full support to the government action of evicting the alleged encroachers from forests and different Upper Assam districts.
“As per Clause 10 of the Assam Accord, all encroachments should be evicted. The government should first determine whether the encroached persons are genuine Indian citizens or not, and take action accordingly,” AASU president Utpal Sarma said.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has lent his support to this ‘Miya Kheda Andolan’ and adviced the agitating organisations not to break law in the process.
“Eviction is not in minority-dominated areas. Eviction drives are for Miya-Muslims, who have encroached on forest land, or VGR, PGR land,” he said on Monday.
Sarma also stressed that Miya Muslims are already living in hundreds of char areas (riverine vegetative islands), where no eviction is planned even though most of them are without any land papers.
“We have given them so much land in chars. We haven’t gone to the chars… Half of Assam’s land is there for them in the chars. From the chars, they want to go to Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat. How can that happen? Where will Assamese people stay?” the Chief Minister asked.
