What's happening in Assam ? Reality Check - Byapar

Two people were killed and several were left injured including police personnel, as clashes broke out on Thursday, Sep'23 between the police and local people in Dholpur Gorukhuti area of Assam’s Darrang district. The whole incident took place when police personnel went to vacate the illegal slums. 

• What's the story?

At least two protesters were killed during clashes between police and local people at Dholpur Gorukhuti area in Assam's Darrang district on Thursday. Many others, including nine police personnel, were also injured.The clashes broke out at a time when a team of security personnel went to the area to evict illegal encroachers from the land belonging to a state farming project.

There have been two eviction drives in Assam in the past week. The first eviction drive was on Monday in the Dholpur 1 village of Sipajhar district. The second eviction drive was on a Thursday morning at Dholpur 3 village in the Darrang district. Interestingly most of the eviction drives occurring are in areas largely inhabited by Bengali Muslims. The reason Assam is in the headlines is that the second eviction drive became violent, which ended up killing two villagers and injuring nine police officers. So let’s take a step back and understand how did we reach here.

The Assam Govt plans to reclaim 25,595 acres of land to train unemployed youth from indigenous communities in agricultural practices under the project titled Gorukhuti. However, the vast majority of those targeted have been Bengali Muslims and Bangladeshi migrants. 

Many residents claim more have been killed, however, they don’t know for sure since the police have cordoned off their village. Superintendent of police Sarma says they did what they had to do in “self-defence.” Another unnamed police officer said, “We feel some outside elements have got involved.” However many reports have cited that it was pre-planned.

Post the eviction turmoil A video of a photographer stomping and attacking the body of a man shot by the police in the northeastern state of Assam has gone viral in India, triggering uproar and protests.In the video, which has not been independently verified by Byapar, a man is seen running with a stick towards a group of policemen in riot gear, holding firearms, in Sipajhar village in Assam’s Darrang district on Thursday.

The Superintendent of Police Darrang, Sushanta Biswa Sarma said, "They (people at the spot) pelted stones & attacked Police personnel. 9 Policeman injured, I'm inquiring about the video that's doing rounds on social media."

@mygovassam has decided that enquiry by a retired Hon Judge of Gauhati High Court would be conducted into incident at Darrang district where two civilians lost their lives and a large number of on-duty @assampolice personnel were injured. pic.twitter.com/i6RriwrcCL

— GP Singh (@gpsinghips) September 23, 2021

• What's Next?

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in Guwahati the eviction drive will not be stopped. "The police has been entrusted with the responsibility of clearing the land from encroachers and they will continue to do it till the job is done. 

Although this attracted criticism from several people and seperate inquiry is also ordered on this incident, it will be interesting to see if they can continue the eviction process. As the world is struggling with the illigal immigration, Assam seems to be on the forefont of the crisis and the eviction of these illigal slums seems more difficult now.