Assam Govt rolls bulldozers over homes of 1983 violence survivors on Govt-allotted land

The Muslim settlement at the Bogeenadi Professional Grazing Reserve, home to survivors of the 1983 anti-Muslim violence during the Assam Movement, met with the bulldozers of the Lakhimpur district administration on Friday, and these machines demolished their homes of over four decades alongside a local mosque, following a series of similar drives against Bengali-speaking Muslims by the Assam government.

Revenue officials arrived in the morning with a heavy contingent of security personnel, and they commenced the clearance of approximately 320 hectares near the Bogeenadi Police Station.

Official records variously identify the habitation as Refugee Camp, Muslim Camp, or Miyan Camp, and the state had previously validated their presence by establishing a primary school in 2008, an Anganwadi centre, electricity connections, and a piped water supply scheme.

The families had been settled at Bogeenadi PGR by the district administration after they were displaced from Bhimpora-Bodhakora during the 1983 violence, when mobs attacked Bhimpora village and drove out several Bengali Muslim families, some of whom had been sharecroppers with members of the local Mising community.

Furthermore, competent authorities had formally allotted over four bighas of land in September 1992 for the mosque and cemetery, but the demolition squad reduced the place of worship to rubble regardless.

Residents have alleged selective targeting because adjoining reserve lands occupied by other communities were spared, and the aggrieved families are now appealing to the state for alternative resettlement.

This operation in Lakhimpur mirrors recent demolitions across Nagaon, Hojai, Golaghat, and Dhubri, and these drives have collectively uprooted thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had previously shared footage of a Lakhimpur clearance as "Ghar ki Safai," and his earlier vows to reclaim every inch of land have drawn sharp condemnation from critics who view such remarks as celebratory of the displacement of a vulnerable minority.