CPI Assam demands immediate halt to ‘inhumane’ eviction drives

Nazira, July 18: Assam CPI secretary Kanak Gogoi has asked the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government to immediately stop the “inhumane and barbaric” eviction drives being carried out in various places of the State, saying that if people are to be evicted, it should be done as per the Supreme Court guidelines and by making alternative arrangements for rehabilitation of the evictees.

Addressing a press conference in Nazira on Tuesday, Gogoi said that if the evicted people have been identified as Bangladesh nationals, they should be pushed back through a repatriation treaty with the neighbouring country.

“What the Chief Minister is doing is self-contradictory because his government has given a one-time assistance of Rs 50,000 and one-and-a-half kathas of land each to the evicted people. Now anyone can understand that the Chief Minister actually wants to hand over the land reclaimed through the eviction drives to Adani, Ambani, and Ramdev,” Gogoi said.

The State CPI leader also strongly opposed the privatisation policy pursued by the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government and its move to hand over land of Assam to corporate groups. He further demanded that the State government should give land pattas to the indigenous landless people of Assam.

Gogoi urged upon all the Opposition parties in the State to work in unison to defeat the BJP in the next Assembly elections in the State.

The State CPI secretary also severely criticised the government for its recent strikes on the camps of the Paresh Baruah-led faction of the ULFA in Myanmar.

“The government has tried to close the door for talks with the Paresh Baruah-led group of the ULFA by launching attacks on the rebel outfit's camps in Myanmar. The government should not consider the ULFA issue as a law-and-order one. Rather, it should be seen as a political issue,” Gogoi said.