'Invasion by people of one religion' altering demography across Assam: Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed on Tuesday that the indigenous communities of the state are facing "invasion" from people of "one religion", who are allegedly encroaching on land in different parts to alter the demography of those areas.

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He said the government's eviction drives, through which over 1.19 lakh bighas have been cleared since 2021, are a major step towards checking this alleged attempt by migrants to gain a political foothold in Assamese-majority areas.

The chief minister did not specify who was making this alleged attempt, but most of the evicted people are Bengali-speaking Muslims.

Addressing a press conference here, Sarma said that it has been found while conducting eviction drives that the encroachers are mostly people with own land in their native districts, and yet they move to settle illegally in distant parts of the state.

"Forest destruction is one of the issues. These people migrate to change the demography of that place," he claimed.