- Novanita Sharma
Assam has been the centerstage of many socio-political upheavals since the independence of India, and one of the most serious issues pertaining this socio-political unrest in Assam has been the problem of uncontainable illegal migration of Bangladeshis to Assam. The historical events like the partition of Bharat in 1947, the consequent division of Bengal on religious line that led to creation of East Pakistan in 1956, and then the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 had set the momentum of human migration from East Pakistan or Bangladesh to Assam and other parts of eastern India. Thousands of Bangladeshi Hindus migrated to India on humanitarian grounds during these times; they were compelled to abandon their homes owing to the political changes, and thence have peacefully settled in India after the migration. But, millions of Bangladeshi Muslim nationals took advantage of this situation to illegally migrate into Indian territories for years since then. These Bangladeshi Muslims did not migrate for humanitarian cause, they came to India on purpose, to grab land, livelihood, and silently obliterate the demography of Indian territories bordering Bangladesh. The result of this continuous exodus of Bangladeshis is glaringly visible in the districts of western Assam like Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Bongaigoan, Morigaon, Nagaon, Darrang, Hojai, Hailakandi, Karimganj, etc. These illegal Bangladeshi migrations took place under the supportive mechanism of Indian political regime that leveraged victorious democratic elections for decades because of their Bangladeshi Muslim vote banks in border states like Assam. Every Indian citizen in Assam is aware of this situation, many youths and students of Assam have sacrificed their lives in the socio-political movements to solve this Bangladeshi problem of Assam, which is posing threats to the identity and survival of the native Assamese people in their own land.
This chronic issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigration in Assam is also a grave ecological problem of eastern India which have long been unaddressed by the authorities. Soumyadeep Datta, Director of Nature’s Beckon have been saying this since the 1980s that the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are finding easy hideout in the areas deemed as free lands, which include recorded forest lands, wetlands, grazing lands, and other areas like the unoccupied sandbanks within the river systems of Assam. The migrant populations of Bangladeshis have replicated their villages, crop lands, schools, and other settlements to welcome more inbound immigrants by encroaching large tracts of forest lands in Assam, and surprisingly the Forest Department of Assam remained steadily impotent in dealing with these encroachments over these years. Nature’s Beckon had appealed to consecutive state governments of Assam to free the forest lands, wetlands, and other natural habitats from encroachments to make the scant forest lands of our state available solely for the wildlife of Assam. Soumyadeep Datta had also suggested to keep the newly emerging lands like the river islands that appear every year within the wide network of our river systems free from human habitations, to make these areas accessible as viable new habitats for the growing populations of wildlife species in Assam. The ongoing eviction drive under the leadership of Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma since July 2025, that recovered large areas of encroached forest lands in Goalpara, Golaghat, apart from eviction of encroachers from many important wetlands in Goalpara and grazing lands in Dhubri marks the much-awaited justice delivered to the forests and people of Assam, after all these years of inaction towards this issue. This eviction drive depicts the growing political will in Assam under the Bharatiya Janata Party led state government to take firm steps in recovering the forests and wetlands of Assam from illegal encroachments and curb the loss of forest area in future while the government hones pragmatic decisions for the progressive growth and development of the state in the coming years. Nature’s Beckon fully supports this bold political decision of the Chief Minister of Assam to carry on the eviction drive, to free the encroached Reserve forests, wetlands, village grazing reserves, etc across the length and breadth of Assam in the future. This political intervention has sent a warning call, for first time, against unlawful encroachment of forest lands in Assam and have addressed one of the greatest threats to the forests of Assam. Hence all conservationists, environmentalists, and everyone working for preservation of the rich biodiversity and natural forests of Assam must support this imperative decision of the state government. This eviction drive has also played an important role in sensitising people regarding the importance of wetlands, which continues to be wrongly considered as nothing more than wastelands and are collectively ignored from organised conservation measures in India. Assam has lost one of the largest areas of forest land to illegal encroachments amongst all the Northeastern states and the rest of the country, hence this eviction drive is a major conservation decision and a timely step to ensure the future ecological security of Northeast India. This historic decision will be forever remembered as another significant contribution of Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma towards the conservation and restoration of natural forests in Assam, apart from the declaration of important protected area like Dihing Patkai National Park, Raimona National Park, Sikhna Jwhwlao National Park, Poba Wildlife Sanctuary, and the proposed Ajagar Wildlife Sanctuary, proposed Pancharatna Wildlife Sanctuary, under his visionary leadership in Assam.