CAB: Invoking Xatras

How much of xatra land is under encroachment and what is the Assam government doing about it? With the xatra issue whipped up again in the battle over citizenship amendment bill (CAB), it is a pertinent question to ask. Senior Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, while defending CAB and the ‘dire necessity’ of granting citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshi migrants, has been painting a doomsday scenario. He contends that Bangladeshi Muslims have been grabbing xatra land, making it impossible for the faithful to worship, forcing the xatras to relocate “like Moinbori xatra in Barpeta district”. So extrapolating his line of argument would mean Bangladeshi Hindus are needed as a counterweight to Bangladeshi Muslims, or else ‘the Assamese way of life would be wiped out in the not-too-distant future’. The fallacies in this argument are too obvious to miss, like for example, what would happen if all Bangladeshi migrants, Hindus and Muslims, one day join forces in overwhelming numbers to dispense with the Assamese language as a needless imposition! If the Minister is taken for his word, should we not ask what is his government doing to free xatras from the clutches of ‘foreign land grabbers’? According to Axom Xatra Mahaxabha, the umbrella body of the xatras, it is a serious problem — 7,000 bighas of land belonging to 39 xatras are in the clutches of encroachers. A study in 2012 by Northeast Policy Institute put the figure at 5,500 bighas belonging to 26 xatras. What are the figures with the State government? In a survey report tabled by the government in the Assembly last year in April, less than 200 bighas belonging to 8 xatras were shown to be under illegal occupation; the xatras were — Ramrai Kuti Xatra in Dhubri district; Shyamrai Bigroh Xatra in Barpeta district; Thakur Ata Xatra in Bongaigaon district; Batadrava Xatra and Narasingha Xatra in Nagaon district; Auniati Xatra (Kaliapani branch), Dakhinpat Xatra (Satai branch) and Gormur Xatra (branch) in Jorhat district. Dissatisfied with this figure, the Xatra Mahaxabha has been maintaining that the State government put the query to deputy commissioners in the districts concerned, and it was the mandals on the ground who totted up the figures.

To get the real figure of land encroachment, the Xatra Mahaxabha has been pushing for a joint survey with the Revenue Department. A decision was reportedly taken to carry out such a joint survey in a meeting between this government and representatives of Xatra Mahaxabha, but there has been little forward movement. The lack of reliable survey on the ground leaves the xatra encroachment issue in the hands of those who have no compunctions to manipulate it their way for political gain. The previous Congress government would bristle at any talk about Bangladeshi settlers on xatra land, while the BJP-led alliance played this issue to the hilt in the run-up to 2016 assembly elections as part of its jati-mati-bheti campaign. The large presence of xatradhikars as Sarbananda Sonowal took oath as chief minister raised hopes that ‘deliverance’ was finally at hand. There have been some well publicised eviction drives on xatra land, like at Batadrava Xatra and Dakshinpatra Xatra Shanti Ashram in Guwahati, but little else besides. With battle-lines now being drawn over citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis, narratives and counter-narratives are being spun, some involving xatras. Dark pictures are being drawn of xatras getting squeezed in Muslim settlements, intimidation and theft of xatra artefacts, masjids coming up on xatra land. But several xatras reveal another picture, a bright one of generosity where Muslim neighbours have for years been contributing to the upkeep of the xatras and serving as protectors. Some xatras have been forced to relocate because turbulent rivers swallowed their land (like Moinbori Xatra), others have lost their disciples because they sold off their land and migrated to the towns. As always, the true picture is complicated due to a number of factors. Only reliable survey and data can shed light on the problem, only sound policy and action under the law can properly deal with it. This is where the State government has failed, leaving the field open to demagogues and rabble rousers to play their mischief.