Indigenous Muslims feel heat of eviction drive in Assam

They fear losing grazing land to Government farm project for which migrant Bengali Muslims were evicted in September

Indigenous Muslims in northern Assam’s Darrang district are now feeling the heat of an eviction drive that was ostensibly aimed at migrant Bengali Muslim settlers on the banks of the Brahmaputra.

Between June 7 and September 23, the district authorities evicted more than 1,000 migrant Muslim families from Dhalpur area to make way for the Government-run Garukhuti farm project. The eviction was paused after two persons, including a minor,

A month on, the indigenous Gorias — a category of Assamese Muslims who played a part in bringing the ‘encroachment’ issue to the fore six years ago — have found themselves staring down the barrel of the Government’s gun.