The story so far: The Assam government’s drive to evict encroachers from forestlands has sent alarm bells ringing in other States of the region. Now, States bordering Assam are taking measures to ensure that those evicted from Assam do not cross over.
When did the eviction drive start in Assam?
The BJP came to power in 2016 by promising to secure jaati (race), maati (land), and bheti (hearth). Based on a Gauhati High Court order to reclaim encroached forestlands, the first eviction drive was carried out in three fringe villages of eastern Assam’s Kaziranga National Park in September 2016. Two people died at Gorukhuti in north-central Assam’s Darrang district when the eviction drive resumed in September 2021, five months after the BJP retained power and Himanta Biswa Sarma became Chief Minister. The eviction drives, allegedly targeted at Bengali Muslims, resumed in June 2025, coinciding with charges of corruption against the BJP-led government, one of them involving the purchase and redistribution of Gir cows for an agricultural project at Gorukhuti, from where migrant Muslims were evicted.
Assam CM sees ‘conspiracy’ behind migration to Hindu, Assamese Muslim areas
What are the roots of the problem?
