Of ‘land-hungry’ immigrants

The Assam government’s instruction to the district authorities not to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) for any land transaction or dealings between members of different religious communities for a period of three months can be viewed as a very significant development in the backdrop of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. As reported, this measure has been adopted in view of the upcoming elections, so that no untoward situation arises during this time. As has been reported, the government has received intelligence reports that several cases of attempts to transfer land by fraudulent means have been happening in some districts, where land is being forcibly sought to be transferred to some religious communities from other religious communities. This newspaper, in its Saturday edition, has very prominently reported that recently several cases have come to light where clashes have taken place between members of two different religious communities centred around land deals, prompting the district authorities to step in to control the situation arising from such incidents. It was also mentioned that a section of people with vested interests have been trying to create a situation that may hamper the upcoming elections. Land, it must be mentioned, has always remained the prime target of immigrants having roots in erstwhile East Bengal/Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh since the first influx started immediately after Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal in 1905. While patriotic leaders like Gopinath Bardoloi and Ambikagiri Ray-Choudhury had outright described the influx as a well-drawn conspiracy to change the demography of Assam for fulfilling the dream of creating a greater Islamic country in India’s eastern region, leftist intellectuals have always tried to dismiss it, showing no concern for Assam’s indigenous communities. Under the different ministries led by Syed Muhammad Saadulla, the immigration of Muslim peasants from East Bengal received a new impetus from the 1930s onwards, and the issue of land became a contentious one. Following the Muslim League’s Lahore Resolution of 1940, the issue of immigration acquired grave political overtones and became inextricably linked with the question of land and the identity of the indigenous communities. And Assam continues to suffer.