Congress slams Assam govt for ‘abandoning’ jaati-maati-bheti promise

Guwahati, June 16: At a time when the Assam government is aggressively pursuing land for its industrial ambitions, the Congress has come down heavily on Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s administration, accusing it of abandoning its election promise of “jaati, maati, bheti” (ethnicity, land, and hearth) and rendering indigenous people landless.

Leader of the Opposition (LoP), Debabrata Saikia, on Monday, alleged that the BJP-led government has consistently favoured multinational corporations at the expense of local communities.

“Since 2016, the BJP has been wooing voters with promises to safeguard the ethnicity, land, and borders of Assam. The people trusted them and voted accordingly. But now, the party has clearly deviated from that agenda,” Saikia said.

He pointed to the government’s move to allocate 5% of tea garden land for commercial purposes, and the creation of land banks, as examples of how public land is being handed over to private players.

“The government has sidestepped legal safeguards to facilitate land transfers to companies. The Prime Minister refers to the Northeast as ‘Ashta Lakshmi’, and it seems he sees 'Lakshmi' only in the land here. That’s why land belonging to the people is being handed over to corporate giants like Adani and Ambani,” Saikia alleged.

He further claimed that the state government has been operating in a clandestine manner, keeping both the general public and the Opposition in the dark.

“According to law, stakeholders must be informed and proper consultations held before any legislative changes. However, the government has bypassed all of that—neither the people nor the Opposition were kept in the loop,” Saikia said.

Commenting on the state’s much-publicised Mission Basundhara scheme, Saikia remarked, “It is claimed to be beneficial, but many eligible individuals still haven’t received their land rights.”

He also accused the government of working on a new land policy that disproportionately benefits industrialists, further sidelining the interests of indigenous communities.

“This will create numerous problems for the people. For instance, the circle rate in Guwahati has been raised to such an extent that it will become difficult for indigenous communities to cope. The government could have exempted them from such rates and instead collected revenue from businesses coming in from outside—but it chose not to,” he said.