Guwahati: Contrary to the claims of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that more than 10,000 bighas of Sattra land are under encroachment, the Assam government on Friday informed the State Assembly that only 62 bighas of Sattra land are under illegal occupation.
Removing encroachers from Sattra (vaishnavite monastery) land has been a major issue for the BJP in the 2016 and 2021 assembly elections.
In its election manifesto in 2021, the BJP introduced a novel concept of “land jihad” in which the saffron party reiterated its promise for the eviction of encroachers (mostly Bangladeshi Muslims-Miyas) from Sattra land.
But, the BJP-led government in Assam speaks otherways.
Replying to an unstarred question (No237) in the State Assembly on March 17, state revenue and disaster management minister Jogen Mohan laid a 26-page long list in which he stated that 62 bighas of Sattra land were under encroachment across Assam.
The minister’s answer has raised the eyebrows of Asom Sattra Mahasabha (ASM), an umbrella organisation of more than 1,200 Vaishnavite Monastries of the state.
“It is blatant lie. It is far from the truth. According to us, more than 10,000 bighas of land are under encroachment,” said Kusum Mahanta, secretary general, Asom Sattra Mahasabha.
When contacted, Pradeep Hazarika, an MLA from Amguri constituency and chairman of the Commission for Review and Assessment of Problems of Sattra Lands in Assam (CRAPSLA), said: “I have to go through this statement. Now I can’t speak anything.”
According to annexure B of his statement, there is no encroachment of Sattra land in Goalpara district. There are 19 Sattras in Goalpara covering 124 bighas, 4 kathas 4 lechas.
There is no encroachment in 38 Sattras in Biswanath district (now a sub-division of Sonitpur district) covering 55 bighas 4 katha 12 lechas of land area. In Sivasagar district, there is no report of encroachment on the land of 29 Sattras covering 314 bighas 2 katha 2 lechas.
In Jorhat district, 38 Sattras are covering 9,340 bighas 2 katha 2 lechas of land. 4,653 bighas 2 katha 10 lechas of Sattra land has been freed from encroachers.
In Morigaon district, 13 Sattras cover a land area of 461 bighas 2 katha 17 lechas, of which 11 bighas 12 lechas were freed from encroachers.
In Nalbari district, 49 Sattras cover a land area of 185 bigha 4 katha 11 lechas, of which 174 bighas 4 katha were freed from encroachers. In Tinsukia district, 17 Sattras cover a land area of 101 bighas 2 lechas, of which 79 bighas 3 katha 9 lechas were freed from encroachers.
There is no encroachment on Sattra land in Lakhimput, where 42 Sattras cover 3,145 bighas 2 katha 15 lechas of land. There are 6 Sattras in Dhubri district covering 56 bighas 3 katha 3,8 lechas, but there has been no encroachment.
In Bongaigaon district, 5 bighas 4 katha 11 lechas of Sattra land and 17 Sattras are under encroachment. A total of 119 bighas 4 kathas 18 lechas of Sattra land have been freed from encroachers in the district. The total Sattra land cover in the district is 223 bighas 10 lechas.
In Barpeta district also there is no encroachment. 43 Sattras cover a land area of 7,234 bighas 4 kathas 15 lechas, of which 83 bighas 8 lechas are under the occupation of tenants and 17 bighas 11 lechas of land have been used for school roads.
Kamrup district has 85 sattras covering 2,658 bighas 18 lechas of land and there is no encroachment. No encroachment has been reported from Kokrajhar where 4 Sattras cover a total area of 9 bighas 1 katha 7 lechas.
There is no encroachment on Sattra land in Chirang district where one Sattra cover 2 bighas 1 kathas 11 lechas of land. No encroachment has been found in Baksa district, where only Sattra occupies 5 bighas of land.
In Tamulpur district (now sub-division), 15 Sattras occupy 172 bighas 2 katha 10 lechas of land and there is no report of encroachment. In Udalguri district, 4 Sattras occupy 35 bighas 1 katha 4 lechas of land, but no encroachment has been reported.
In Charaideo district, 8 Sattras occupy 24 bighas 4 kathas 19 lechas of land and there is no report of encroachment. In Kamrup Metro district, there are 9 Sattras covering 129 bighas 1 katha 14 lechas and there is no report of encroachment.
No encroachment has been report from Darrang district where 28 Sattras occupy 520 bighas 15 lechas of land.
In Karimganj district, only one 1 Sattra occupies 50 bighas of land without any report of encroachment. Majuli has a total of 35 Sattras occupying 5,651 bighas 1 kathas 12 lechas without any report of encroachment.
In Bajali district, 23 Sattras occupy 242 bighas 3 kathas 8 lechas and there is record of encroachment. In Nagaon district, 63 Sattras occupy 10,883 bighas 3 katha 5 lechas of land, of which 5 bighas 4 kathas 4 lecha are under encroachment.
In Golaghat district, 23 Sattras occupy 7,712 bighas 2 kathas 6 lechas of land and there is no record of encroachment. In Dhemaji district, 16 Sattras cover 50 bighas of land, while in Dibrugarh district 12 Sattras cover 130 bighas 3 kathas 7 lechas of land.
There is no Sattra in Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong, Hojai, Cachar, South Salmara, Hailakandi and Dima Hasao districts.
“Nobody can deny the report of a government tabled in the State Assembly. It shows that the allegation of Asom Sattra Mahasabha and right-wing organisations are far from the truth,” said a senior journalist, pleading anonymity.
Based on the allegations of encroachment on Sattra land, Chief Minister Himanata Biswa Sarma-led government had constituted the Commission for Review and Assessment of Problems of Sattra Lands in Assam (CRAPSLA), which in an interim report on December 2, 2022, stated that 7,504.2 bighas (1,898.04 hectares) of Sattra land are under illegal occupation across the state.
It was informed that a total of 33,265.7 bighas (8,413.89 hectares) of land are under the occupation of 303 Sattras in the state.
The Commission was headed by former minister and AGP MLA from Amguri constituency, Pradeep Hazarika, with Mrinal Saikia and Rupak Sarma as members.
The Commission visited the state and covered as many as 12 districts–Barpeta, Dhubri, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Kamrup, Morigaon, Nagaon, Jorhat, Majuli, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, and Karimganj, covering 62 Sattras, including the most severely affected sites.
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In July 2012, a study by the Northeast Policy Institute said that land was encroached upon after Independence when people from erstwhile East Pakistan, mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims, came across to Assam.
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We must remember that not only Satra Land; community land, reserved forest land & riverine land are also encroached. Encroachment is a true fect. Natural disaster – primarily flood & erosion has been making homeless to lesser extent than encroachment due to rise in population pressure, especially high birth rate among Muslims. Why do the muslim people migrate from Dhubri & Barpeta to middle & upper Assam districts to encroach land? Why don’t they stay back at their home districts? Is land not available in Dhubri & Barpeta? We must pay our attention to what is suspected to be “push & pull” factors for a “definite design” behind all these.