Over 1,100 Muslim Families Evicted in Assam, More Than 10 Mosques Demolished
Two day eviction drive across three districts displaces Bengali Muslim families, while residents say the government had settled their ancestors on the land decades ago
Guwahati: More than 1,100 Muslim families, most of them Bengali Muslims, have been evicted during a two day demolition drive across Assam’s Nagaon, Hojai and Golaghat districts. More than 10 mosques were also reportedly demolished, including some that had stood for over five decades, according to a report by Scroll.
On Sunday, the second day of the operation, authorities demolished homes belonging to more than 600 families in the Lutumari Longjap Reserve Forest in Nagaon district. Officials said the families were occupying forest land illegally.
A day earlier, 547 families were evicted across three districts. The reported figures included 336 families in Nagaon, 152 in Hojai and 59 in Golaghat. The operations were conducted under heavy security.
Residents dispute encroachment claims
Families affected in Lutumari said they had lived on more than 300 hectares of land in the reserve forest for decades and disputed the administration’s claim that they were encroachers.
Abdul Noor, a 44 year old resident whose house was demolished on Sunday, told Scroll that the government had settled landless families in the area in 1974. He said around 300 families had been allotted four bighas of land each because their forefathers had no land of their own.
Residents also said many families had worked as labourers for the Forest Department and were settled in the area through the government’s forestry arrangements.
The All India Union of Forest Working People had urged the Assam government in June to halt the planned evictions. The organisation argued that residents of four villages in the reserve forest had been settled under the colonial era taungya system, under which communities cultivated crops while working in forest management.
The organisation maintained that the historical circumstances of these settlements should be considered before treating residents as ordinary encroachers.
Mosques among demolished structures
According to Scroll, Noor said more than 10 mosques were demolished during the operation, including some that were over 50 years old. The demolitions have raised further concerns among affected residents over the loss of homes, community spaces and places of worship.
The eviction drive comes amid a wider pattern of removals from government and forest land in Assam. Data compiled by Scroll from state revenue department and district authorities showed that around 19,000 families had been evicted from government land over the past decade, most of them Muslim.
The latest operation has renewed debate over forest conservation, the rights of long settled communities and the need to address rehabilitation and historical claims alongside eviction proceedings.