Hundreds of Muslim families in India’s northeastern Assam state are sheltering in makeshift tents after being evicted from their homes in a pre-election crackdown, near the border with Bangladesh.
They are among thousands of families whose houses have been bulldozed in the past few weeks by authorities – the most intense such action in decades – who accuse them of illegally staying on government land.
The demolitions in Assam, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party will seek reelection early next year, have coincided with a national clampdown on Bengali-speaking Muslims branded "illegal infiltrators" from Bangladesh, since the August 2024 ouster of a pro-India premier in Dhaka.
"The government repeatedly harasses us," said Aran Ali, 53, speaking outside a patch of bare earth in Assam's Goalpara district that has become the makeshift home for his family of three.
"We are accused of being encroachers and foreigners," said Ali, who was born in Assam, as the scorching July sun beat down on the settlement.
