Assam BJP Govt makes over 1,100 Muslim families homeless, demolishes mosques
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In the latest eviction drive targeting Muslims, particularly Bengali Muslims, by the BJP-led government in Assam, more than 1,100 Muslim families have been rendered homeless within two days across Nagaon, Golaghat and Hojai districts, while more than 10 mosques, including some that had stood for over 50 years, were demolished as residents’ claims to the land fell on deaf ears.
The demolitions, which authorities justified on the grounds of encroachment, form part of a recurring pattern of evictions affecting marginalised communities in the state, with Bengali Muslims among those particularly affected.
On Sunday, the second day of the operation, officials demolished the homes of more than 600 Muslim families in the Lutumari Longjap Reserve Forest in Nagaon district, where residents had occupied more than 300 hectares of land for decades. A day earlier, 547 families were evicted under heavy security, including 336 in Nagaon, 152 in Hojai and 59 in Golaghat.
However, residents disputed the administration’s claim that they were encroachers, maintaining that their families had originally been employed as labourers by the forest department and settled on the land by the government.
According to Scroll, Abdul Noor, a 44-year-old resident whose house was demolished on Sunday, said the government had settled his family and others there in 1974, after their forefathers had struggled with landlessness. He said 300 landless families from nearby Juria town had each been allotted four bighas of land.
In June, the All India Union of Forest Working People had urged the Assam government to halt the proposed evictions, arguing that residents of four villages in the reserve forest had been settled under the colonial-era taungya system of forest management and should not be classified as ordinary encroachers.
The demolition drive also reportedly saw more than 10 mosques pulled down, including places of worship that had stood for over half a century, adding to the devastation faced by families who say their longstanding ties to the land have been disregarded.