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GUWAHATI, JULY 16: Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Central Committee member Balindra Saikia and state committee member Purna Kakoty went on the ground to study the Tirap Tribal Belt in the 83rd Margherita constituency of Tinsukia district. The study was done following increased reports of land encroachment in the region, especially land owned by the native Singpho community.
During their stay, the CPI(ML) delegation met King Sengam Singpho, the Village Chief of Kotha Sema gam village, and his family members to address the age-old and still-existent problem of land encroachment. As per the team, of the about 5,000 bighas of land belonging to the village chief in the Tirap Tribal Belt, thousands of bighas are already under illegal occupation of non-tribal people over the years. Recently, an effort was made to forcibly intrude into an extra 32 bighas. But this effort was successfully thwarted by the initiative of the local Singpho people, who have lived in the Margherita area for centuries.
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Saikia denounced the current ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, highlighting the gap between what it had promised and what it did. When the BJP took office in Assam, it had committed to safeguarding the “Jati, Mati, and Bheti” — i.e., the identity, land, and basis — of indigenous groups. But Saikia said that the marginalized Singpho are now daily struggling against encroachers on their land, with the government doing little to stop them.
Though the government conducted eviction drives to oust encroachments in tribal belts in different areas of the state, it has reportedly ignored similar offenses in the Tirap Tribal Belt. Saikia claimed this was due to the political power of Margherita MLA Bhaskar Sharma, who is said to be close to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Saikia claimed that Sharma has turned into a “symbol of land encroachment” in the area.
Adding to the controversy is widespread speculation concerning a letter purportedly written by Bhaskar Sharma to the Chief Minister. If it is proven authentic, Saikia asserts, the letter would establish Sharma as the chief patron of land encroachment in the Tirap region.
In short, the CPI(ML) group asked the BJP government to take firm and swift action. Their demands are enacting stringent legislation to save land in tribal belts and blocks, conducting a detailed inquiry into the conditions of encroachment in Tirap Tribal Belt, extending land rights to original inhabitants and to victims of natural disasters, and taking speedy steps to stop further encroachments in protected tribal land.
