Farmers Movement Archive

Amid eviction unrest, Assam starts farm project

Less than 48 hours after an eviction drive led to the death of two persons, including a minor, in police firing, the Assam government has begun its ambitious farm project in the areas freed from the settlers. BJP MLA Padma Hazarika, who heads the committee set up for implementing the government’s Gorukhuti farming project, said seeds of various crops have been sown in 4,000 bighas made encroachment-free. “We have begun with black gram, coriander and spinach. We intend to extend the cultivated area to 10,000 bighas soon,” he told The Hindu from Darrang district’s Gorukhuti. He said the project will not be restricted to Dhalpur No 1, Dhalpur No 3 and Dhalpur No 3 areas only. Dhalpur 3 was where the two Bengali-speaking Muslims were shot dead by the police on September 23. The Gorukhuti project, carried out under police protection, entails farming for the indigenous youths on 77,000 bighas of land that the government claims had been taken over by “illegal migrants”. The settlers said the BJP-led government has been legitimising the eviction drive by portraying them as Bangladeshis despite documents showing they are Indians who have been living in the area for decades. Locals say the encroached land used to be government-notified grazing land for their cattle. Meanwhile, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) has decided to send a team to Dhalpur where the “BJP government killed poor, landless farmers”. The delegation is expected to visit the place on October 4. ‘CM must go’ “We protest the State-sponsored violence aimed at communal polarisation and demand the resignation of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma,” AIKS president Ashok Dhawale said. “If the State government was actually promoting a policy of community farming, it could have involved the 800 families who were cultivating the area for decades instead of evicting them and destroying their religious structures,” he said.

The Hindu

2021-09-27

GUWAHATI