Signals from Jamuguri

Last Thursday's incident at Jamuguri in Sonitpur district is a clear signal of what is in store for Assam and her indigenous communities in the days to come. As per reports, the government had a few months ago evicted about 400 families of doubtful antecedents who had been encroaching upon government land near Chowkighat under Jamuguri police station, after which the land was allotted to 30 self-help groups comprising local youth. But on Thursday, when government officials went there and began demarcating the plots for the self-help groups, a mob allegedly comprising illegal migrants arrived there with lethal arms and began attacking the people. At least 12 persons including the Jamaguri Police Outpost officer in-charge sustained serious injuries. This is definitely not a stray incident. It is common knowledge that large tracts of government land including reserved forests, PGRs and VGRs, river-banks and land belonging to Vaishnavite xatra institutions have been systematically encroached  upon and occupied by hordes of people of doubtful antecedents. While successive Congress governments had chosen to look the other way because of vote-bank politics, the two AGP-led governments too had miserably failed to protect government land from the clutches of such encroachers. Sarbananda Sonowal's BJP-led coalition government had come to power in 2016 on the sole promise of protecting "jaati-maati-bheti" (identity, land and homesteads) of the indigenous communities in the face of large-scale influx of people from erstwhile East Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh. This government did carry out a few eviction drives and cleared land belonging to Kaziranga National Park and a few xatras in Barpeta and Nagaon districts. In Kaziranga, some opposition political parties and activists took the side of the encroachers. Same was the case when the government tried to remove encroachers from government land in Sipajhar in Darrang district. This time too, while the government earned support and praise of people belonging to indigenous communities, a section of politicians and opposition political parties have shamelessly taken a stand against the indigenous people. The Supreme Court had in its historic verdict of July 2005, while striking down the notorious IMDT Act, had clearly stated that it was the bounden duty of the government to protect the citizens from the "silent invasion" of illegal migrants. If the government stops carrying out eviction of suspected illegal migrants, and if the government does not gather the courage to protect its citizens, then Assam is definitely heading towards a very dangerous situation.