New Delhi, Jul 18 (PTI) The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation demanded on Friday that the ongoing eviction drives in Assam be halted immediately.
It also accused the BJP government in the northeastern state of targeting Muslims and other marginalised communities under the guise of forest protection and taking action against “so-called” illegal infiltrators.
“CPI(ML) Liberation demands an immediate halt to the ongoing eviction drives and police violence unleashed by the BJP-led Assam government on the aggrieved victims of eviction drives,” the Left party said in a statement issued by its central committee.
“Under the guise of forest protection and targeting of so-called illegal infiltrators, the government is waging a ruthless campaign of corporate land grab and ethnic cleansing, targeting Muslims and other marginalised communities,” it added.
The party slammed the Assam government over a person’s death in a clash between evicted people and security personnel in Goalpara district on Thursday.
The CPI(ML) said the incident has “exposed the inhumanity and complete impunity with which the BJP regime is executing this eviction drive”.
It added that a fact-finding team of the party visited Ashudubi village in Goalpara and found out that “more than 1,100 houses were demolished by employing at gunpoint more than 60 bulldozers”.
The team consisted of MP Sudama Prasad, the party’s Assam unit secretary Bibek Das, central committee members Manoj Manzil, a former MLA from Bihar, and Balindra Saikia, along with Pankaj Kumar Das, Anant Hazarika and Subhash Singh.
“The team observed that many trenches had been dug by bulldozers surrounding the village to prevent any humanitarian help for the homeless villagers,” the CPI(ML) said.
“The victims are poor peasants and working-class Muslim families who were living in this village for 60-70 years. It is also reported that one person, Sheikh Monirul Islam, committed suicide under desperation after the eviction notice was served to him. Another person, Anaruddin Sheikh, died of a heart attack while his house was being demolished,” it added.
The Left party claimed that thousands of families in Goalpara, Dhubri, Charuabakhra, Chirakuta, Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao, Kamrup (Rural), Kokrajhar and other regions are facing the threat of being uprooted without any legal process, rehabilitation or basic humanitarian support.
It alleged that “illegal infiltration” is a ploy of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to stoke communal polarisation and shift focus from its plans to evict poor, indigenous communities and Muslims for corporate land grab.
“In Dhubri and Goalpara, 4,000 bighas are being cleared for a 3,000-MW thermal power plant by the Adani Group. In Dima Hasao, land is being handed over to Adani for a cement factory. In Kokrajhar, Adani is constructing a power project. In Karbi Anglong, Reliance is setting up compressed biogas plants,” the party said.
“We demand an immediate stop to all eviction drives. The government must provide full rehabilitation and humanitarian assistance to all displaced families. A court-monitored high-level inquiry must be initiated into the police violence and all perpetrators must be brought to justice,” the CPI(ML) added.
A clash broke out between evicted people and security personnel in Goalpara on Thursday, in which at least one of the evicted persons died, while 20 others, including police personnel, were injured, according to officials.
Goalpara District Commissioner Prodip Timung has alleged that encroachers attacked forest guards and police personnel with sticks, stones and bricks when they went to cordon off a part of the Paikan reserve forest. PTI AO RC
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