Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he would continue to fight for the indigenous people of Assam and their identity.
Hoisting the national flag at the Independence Day function in Guwahati, Mr. Sarma said his government cleared encroachments from 1.2 lakh bigha (over 16,000 hectare) of land, which is a part of that fight.
“Like love jihad, now a section is trying to threaten Assamese identity by indulging in land jihad. Through a series of evictions, we have given the message that our government will never compromise,” he said.
Apparently hinting towards Bengali-speaking Muslims, he said “unknown” people’s aggression changed the demography of lower and central Assam, and then they eyed upper and north Assam.
“To stop them, we have declared war on their aggression. I promise that we will evict the unknown people from every piece of grazing land, tribal belt and government land,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that the assembly constituencies were redefined as part of this commitment, and by the latest delimitation exercise, the government has been able to “secure” Assam for indigenous people for many decades.
“These unknown people are advancing to capture political power now, after almost capturing economic power. They have captured every sphere of the construction sector. We cannot remain silent.
Mr. Sarma said that if the youth remain silent and Assamese people are ready for compromise, then in just 10 years, the indigenous people will lose their jati, mati, bheti (community, land, homeland).
“In just 15 years, 80 per cent of the state’s ministers will be from them. And within two decades, this national flag on Independence Day will be hoisted by an unknown chief minister. This is Assam’s future,” he claimed.
Mr. Sarma said that as a proud Assamese and Indian, he is not ready to accept such a situation and believes that no Assamese people are ready to accept it.
“We have to fight. We take a pledge under this tricolour that we will not be finished and we will fight. We will again fight for survival. Our fight is not with arms, but a fight for self-determination,” he said. — PTI