Around 400 Muslim families were evicted from their homes in the Sipajhar region of India’s Assam State on 20 May. The families received no warning or notice of the evictions, after which their homes were demolished by bulldozers.
The incident marks the second time many of these families have been evicted from their homes. Many were also targeted in an eviction drive in the same region in September 2021, in which more than 1,000 homes were demolished, over 7,000 people were left homeless and two Muslims were killed.
The 2021 evictions were carried out on the orders of the current Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa, a leader of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who came to power in the state in 2021 and whose election promise was to free the land of 'illegal encroachers' which is a reference to Muslims of Bengali-origin in Assam.
At the time the government claimed that the evictions were intended to make way for an experimental agricultural project in Dhalpur Char in Sipajhar for which more than 23,000 acres of land were cleared. However, almost three years later there is still no evidence of any agricultural development, and the government has also failed to deliver on its promise to relocate the families to an area called Dalgaon, resulting in many families living in makeshift homes in Dhalpur Char.
One of the victims, who wishes to remain anonymous for security reasons, told CSW that their community feels persecuted for their faith, saying: ‘Why are only Muslim-dominated areas being targeted, why are only Muslim families being evicted? This has nothing to do with the agricultural project. They simply want to get rid of us.’
The Muslim families are of Bengali origin and have lived in Assam for several decades, in many cases having moved from the coastline of the Brahmaputra River which is prone to extreme flooding.
CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘The forced eviction of these Muslim families – in many cases the second time they have experienced such an injustice - reflects the kind of hateful rhetoric that has been directed towards them not only by far right non-state actors but also by key government officials in recent years. The right to adequate housing includes the protection against forced evictions and the arbitrary destruction of people’s homes. Sadly, it is becoming more common that this right is being maliciously denied to specific ethnic and religious communities in India. We urge the central government to condemn such practices, and for state authorities to act humanely and justly by keeping their promise to relocate these families.’
Notes to Editors:
- Dhalpur Char is a sandbar in the middle of the Brahmaputra River in Sipajhar.
- Bengal is a historic region in South Asia that refers to modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. After Bangladesh gained independence in 1971, many Bengalis moved to Assam and West Bengal. Those of Hindu origin have largely been granted citizenship, while those of a Muslim background have typically been denied citizenship and were excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) published by the Assam government in 2019.