Mission Basundhara and indigenous communities

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma must be congratulated for having made the bold statement in the ongoing budget session of the state legislative assembly in regard to Mission Basundhara on Thursday. Sarma has said that Mission Basundara is specifically meant for people belonging to the indigenous communities of Assam and that immigrants and even people who have come from other parts of India have no space under this programme. What is even more important is that this government, through Mission Basundhara, has made an all-out effort to ensure the land rights of the indigenous people. There is no debate or doubt about the fact that those who have been living in Assam for ages are indigenous to the state, the Chief Minister has asserted. The Chief Minister must also be congratulated for putting records straight in the state assembly that it was the sacred and bounden duty of his government to ensure the security of the indigenous communities. It is important for every patriotic person in this country to understand and keep in mind that the indigenous communities of Assam have been pushed to the wall by the hordes of land-hungry immigrants from erstwhile East Bengal/Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh in the past twelve decades. A systematic conspiracy was hatched by the Muslim League since its formation in Dhaka way back in 1906 to push millions of Muslim peasants to the Brahmaputra and Barak Valleys and overturn the demography of Assam. It is also true that while the Mughals and other Muslim invaders failed to bring Assam under their control and occupation despite making several attempts, and though the game plan of Jinnah’s Muslim League to include Assam in East Pakistan was foiled, certain forces are still working overtime to fulfil that evil design. It is because of this large-scale immigration of Muslims that the indigenous communities of Assam, and more particularly the tribal communities like the Bodos, Rabhas, and Tiwas, have been under threat. Several Assam districts have been turned Muslim-majority in the past few decades by these immigrants, and it is the bounden duty of the government to protect the indigenous communities at all costs. Mission Basundhara must be considered only the beginning in this respect.