CM Himanta Biswa Sarma claims conspiracy to 'alter Assam's demography by 2050'

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed on Thursday that a conspiracy has been hatched by certain groups to capture power and alter the demography of the state by 2050. He was speaking in the context of the recent eviction drive in the Gorukhuti village under the Sipajhar revenue circle of Darrang district, during which, three protesters were killed in police firing. The village was inhabited by Bengali-speaking Muslims.

Sarma said most of these people do not belong to the area and had come from places like Dalgaon and Baghbor with an aim to capture the Sipajhar constituency.

“They would slowly encroach lands in phases and Lumding in Hojai district and Barchalla in Sonitpur are also on their list. They have already taken over the Batadroba constituency in Nagaon district,” he said.

The Chief Minister said every five years, there is an attempt to change the demographic profile of an area. "Earlier I did not have access to official papers, now after going through papers and from intelligence reports it can be said that there is a definitive blueprint to capture power in Assam by 2050,” he added

Sarma claimed of the 10,000 people residing in the Gorukhuti village, around 6,000 were not listed on the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

"The indigenous citizens of Gorukhuti have all the documents and figures in the NRC. They will be given six bighas government land for resettlement. But many others were encroaching government land in the Siphajar area despite owning property in Dalgaon, Baghbor, and elsewhere,” he said, terming it a deliberate "political design".

Gorukhuti, Sipajhar eviction drive & Darrang firing incident

The eviction drive in Gorukhuti village on September 23 was followed by another drive in the Sipajhar area last week, during which 800 families comprising about 5,000 people were vacated. Violent clashes took place between local people and police, which resulted in the death of two people and injury to 15 policemen during the eviction drive at Gorukhuti.

In the aftermath of the Darrang firing, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the PFI was involved in the anti-eviction protests in Sipajhar. Taking cognizance of the incident, the Assam government has decided to institute an inquiry into the circumstance leading to the violence. 

Ever since assuming power in May 2021, the BJP government has been taking strong actions to stop undocumented migration into the region.