Guwahati, 5 July (HS): Assam’s age-old spiritual sanctuaries — the Sattras — are under siege, with 922 Sattras currently encroached upon. Our government and the Bharatiya Janata Party remain unwaveringly committed to restoring the lost glory and heritage of these revered institutions, asserted State BJP President Dilip Saikia.

Post-independence, Assam remained under Congress rule for nearly seven decades (69 years). Instead of protecting the rights of the indigenous sons of the soil, the Congress party shamelessly relied on a particular religious community for its vote bank. This dangerous political appeasement has emboldened illegal infiltrators and led to the encroachment of thousands of bighas of land across Assam.

For mere electoral gains, the Congress deliberately deprived the indigenous people of their rightful land ownership. The present reality remains equally concerning — 7,137 bighas of Sattra land in Barpeta district, 2,757.39 bighas in Bajali, 2,583.79 bighas in Nagaon and 896.76 bighas in Lakhimpur — all remain in the clutches of illegal encroachers.

The people of Assam have not forgotten the shameful episode when the Congress, led by then Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President Bhupen Bora, staged a semi-nude protest opposing the eviction of illegal encroachers from the Garukhuti project — a project that symbolises Assam’s agrarian revolution.

Can opposition leader Debabrata Saikia, who shamelessly declared in the Assam Assembly that “Lower Assam* Muslims will inevitably move towards Upper Assam,” explain why, as per Census 2001, there were 5 lakh Hindus in Dhubri, yet by Census 2011, that number plummeted to 3.5 lakh? Why were 1.5 lakh Hindus forcibly displaced from Dhubri?

If the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee truly possesses even an ounce of courage, let its President Gaurav Gogoi and Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain publicly appeal to the encroachers to vacate the occupied land peacefully. Otherwise, it will only reaffirm what is already evident — that the Congress party has, for decades, served the interests of a specific community at the cost of the indigenous people of Assam.

Instead of opposing the eviction in Goalpara district, the Congress must answer why in Lakhima village of Lakhipur Revenue Circle, Goalpara — once home exclusively to indigenous Rabha and Garo communities — there are today no Rabha or Garo families left. Why were these indigenous families forced to abandon their ancestral land?

Through Mission Bhumiputra, the government is ensuring land rights and land pattas for the indigenous sons of the soil while simultaneously taking decisive steps to free the sacred Sattra lands — the spiritual and cultural epicentres of Assam — from illegal encroachment.

The BJP-led Assam Government and the Bharatiya Janata Party remain resolute and uncompromising in their commitment to protecting Assam’s identity, land, and heritage. We will continue our efforts relentlessly, guided by the unwavering resolve to safeguard the rightful place of the indigenous people in their own homeland.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Sriprakash