Following India’s independence, Assam has consistently experienced religious, linguistic, ethnic, and sub-regional differences, which have led to violence at times. Debates that have occupied the social space include the Ujoni (Upper Assam) temperament versus the Namoni (Lower Assam) disposition and the khilonjia (indigenous) versus the bohiragata (outsiders). However, none of them has been as polarising as the one between the indigenous and the Miya, a pejorative term for Muslims with roots in Bangladesh.
This divide is rooted in the fear that Bangladeshi nationals will take over Assam. This fear gained currency during the Assam agitation (1979-85), which led to the signing of the Assam Accord of 1985. The accord prescribed the detection, deletion (from electoral rolls), and deportation of foreigners who entered Assam on or after March 25, 1971; constitutional, legislative, and administrative safeguards for the Assamese people; and restricting the acquisition of immovable property by foreigners, which invariably meant Bangladeshi people. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh supported the movement.
The Bangladeshi issue became an election staple from the controversial 1983 election, in which the Bengali-speaking Muslims, who are dominant voters in at least 35 of Assam’s 126 Assembly seats, participated despite a boycott call by the pro-agitation groups. The issue dominated the 1985 election, won by the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which mostly comprised leaders of the agitation. It also birthed the United Minorities Front, whose rise stoked the perceived demographic threat, before its space was taken up by the All India United Democratic Front.
The Bangladeshi or ‘illegal immigrants’ issue was in the sub-text of the promise to protect ‘jaati (race), maati (land), bheti (hearth)’ that helped the BJP form its first government in Assam in 2016. The party’s minor allies were the AGP and the Bodoland People’s Front, which ruled over a tribal council with a history of conflicts between the dominant tribe and the migrant Muslims. The BJP-led government showed it meant business by carrying out the first eviction drive in three fringe villages of Kaziranga National Park in September 2016, almost a year after the Gauhati High Court ordered the reclamation of encroached land. Two people were killed during the eviction of mostly migrant Muslims.
A similar exercise to evict families from forest land, grazing land, and government revenue land was carried out in at least 12 places across the State before the BJP retained power in 2021 and Himanta Biswa Sarma became the Chief Minister. Despite strong sentiments against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, the party came to power relying on vikas (development) to turn the tide in its favour.
A former Congress leader, Mr. Sarma has been maintaining that the BJP does not need the votes of Muslims to win elections, while taking care to distinguish the Bengali Muslims from the khilonjia Assamese Muslims. The eviction drive became more aggressive under him. In September 2021, an eviction drive in Gorukhuti in Darrang district claimed two lives. It was paused after a few more operations. The drive was restarted in June this year across several districts of western and north-eastern Assam.
Citing official documents, Mr. Sarma has said that 1.29 lakh bighas have been cleared of squatters so far, and about 29 lakh bighas of land are still under encroachment in the State. He made it more than apparent who his government is against by calling encroachment of land a “jihad to finish the State”. He linked it to an impending demographic shift, which he said would make the Assamese people a minority by 2041.
The Chief Minister’s detractors say the eviction is being carried out to clear land for corporate houses, including the Adani Group, which is eyeing a thermal power project in western Assam. This, they say, is why people have been moved out of at least 49,000 bighas where indigenous communities resided.
While the eviction of other communities has been low-key, those against Muslims have had more traction because, as MLA Akhil Gogoi said, evicting minorities paves the way for the politics of polarisation so that the Hindu voters back the BJP, especially in Ujoni, where the party is facing challenges. The State elections are less than a year away.
rahul.karmakar@thehindu.co.in
Published – July 29, 2025 01:40 am IST
