Evicting Encroachers

Recent eviction drives carried out by the Government of Assam in the state’s forest areas have evoked mixed reactions. While the patriotic people of Assam have overwhelmingly supported the eviction drives, one small section has been opposing them. The fundamental justification for the eviction is that the forests are to be protected under the laws of the land, because destruction of forests will have a long-term negative impact on the environment and biodiversity and further boost climate change and global warming. These in turn will not only negatively impact upon the overall well-being of the people but also adversely affect agricultural production, apart from leading to unpredictable weather conditions, floods and other natural disasters. Then, there is also the question of protecting the identity of the indigenous communities of the state. The large majority of encroachers are people of migrant origin; many of them are also either illegal migrants from a neighbouring country or their rapidly multiplying progeny. Immigrants have been targeting the reserved forests and wetlands of Assam for over a century now. It all began when the colonial government had, in 1905, clubbed Assam with Eastern Bengal and opened the floodgates for immigrants from that part of the subcontinent to the Brahmaputra and Barak Valleys. It must always be kept in mind that the Muslim League was born in Dhaka within one year of clubbing Assam with Eastern Bengal, and one of its major objectives has been to flood Assam with Bengali-speaking Muslims from that part to Assam and thus convert the demography into such a pattern so that it could be included in East Pakistan. Several official reports of the colonial period had warned that Assam would one day lose its original demographic pattern and that the Assamese would somehow manage to survive only in Sibsagar. There is also a threat to national security. Fundamentalist terror groups operating from Bangladesh under a larger global terror network have been working overtime to establish sleeper cells in Assam, indoctrinate young persons from the immigrant Muslims, provide arms training and other acts of sabotage and whip up communal tension in the long run. While one strategy is to fulfil the Muslim League dream of creating a larger Muslim country, the other strategy is to keep creating all kinds of trouble in the Northeast.