Tribal land rights take centre stage in Palasbari battle
Guwahati: With campaigning at its peak, Assam’s Palasbari constituency in the outskirts of Guwahati has emerged as a key electoral battleground, with the contest increasingly shaped by a larger clash between urban expansion and resistance from tribal and indigenous communities.
Both BJP candidate Himanshu Shekhar Baishya and AJP candidate Pankaj Lochan Goswami have pledged to protect indigenous interests in a constituency where tribal voters are expected to play a decisive role. At the centre of the dispute is a proposed satellite township in Barduar Bagan, which local tribal residents fear could displace hundreds of families, most of them from the Rabha community.
But on Wednesday, AJP leaders joined Congress leaders, the Barduar Bagan Bhumipattan Dabi Samiti and the Joint Forum for Land Struggles (JFLS), Assam, in an election rally openly supporting AJP. They opposed BJP-led govt’s alleged plan to move ahead with the township project, possibly under a different name. The tribal villagers now fear that if the township replaces the tea garden, their homes could be demolished.
A separate group of organisations led by the All Rabha Students’ Union is also opposing any satellite township in the tribal-inhabited area, though it remains aligned with the NDA.
Aditya Rabha, a leader of the Barduar Bagan Bhumipattan Dabi Samiti, alleged that preparations for the project were already underway. He claimed, "An aerial survey was recently conducted and roads are reportedly planned to be widened, raising fears of encroachment on tribal land."
“In around 8,500 bighas of land, people in our area are residing. They are living on govt land. If tribal belts and blocks are breached in the name of urbanisation, tribal families will not be able to claim their rights over their land,” he said.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had said in June last year that the Barduar township project would be dropped if it faced public opposition. But local leaders said that assurance has not eased concerns. “The satellite township plan must be dropped officially and people living on tea garden land for generations must be given land pattas,” said Subrat Talukdar, convener of JFLS, Assam. He said the rally resolved to oppose BJP.
Goswami used the rally to back the protesters and sharpen his attack on the ruling party.
“We encouraged and supported the movement of the tribal families of Barduar Bagan. Our president Lurinjyoti Gogoi and Congress president Gaurav Gogoi extended support to the protesters, and we stand with your demand. Be assured, your demand will be fulfilled once our govt comes to power,” Goswami said.
Local organisations said hundreds of families live on land belonging to a tea garden established during the British period, though residents had been living there even before the plantation came up. Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Rabha tribal families in Palasbari, near the Assam-Meghalaya border, have been living without land pattas despite residing in the area for generations.
Both BJP candidate Himanshu Shekhar Baishya and AJP candidate Pankaj Lochan Goswami have pledged to protect indigenous interests in a constituency where tribal voters are expected to play a decisive role. At the centre of the dispute is a proposed satellite township in Barduar Bagan, which local tribal residents fear could displace hundreds of families, most of them from the Rabha community.
But on Wednesday, AJP leaders joined Congress leaders, the Barduar Bagan Bhumipattan Dabi Samiti and the Joint Forum for Land Struggles (JFLS), Assam, in an election rally openly supporting AJP. They opposed BJP-led govt’s alleged plan to move ahead with the township project, possibly under a different name. The tribal villagers now fear that if the township replaces the tea garden, their homes could be demolished.
A separate group of organisations led by the All Rabha Students’ Union is also opposing any satellite township in the tribal-inhabited area, though it remains aligned with the NDA.
Aditya Rabha, a leader of the Barduar Bagan Bhumipattan Dabi Samiti, alleged that preparations for the project were already underway. He claimed, "An aerial survey was recently conducted and roads are reportedly planned to be widened, raising fears of encroachment on tribal land."
“In around 8,500 bighas of land, people in our area are residing. They are living on govt land. If tribal belts and blocks are breached in the name of urbanisation, tribal families will not be able to claim their rights over their land,” he said.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had said in June last year that the Barduar township project would be dropped if it faced public opposition. But local leaders said that assurance has not eased concerns. “The satellite township plan must be dropped officially and people living on tea garden land for generations must be given land pattas,” said Subrat Talukdar, convener of JFLS, Assam. He said the rally resolved to oppose BJP.
Goswami used the rally to back the protesters and sharpen his attack on the ruling party.
“We encouraged and supported the movement of the tribal families of Barduar Bagan. Our president Lurinjyoti Gogoi and Congress president Gaurav Gogoi extended support to the protesters, and we stand with your demand. Be assured, your demand will be fulfilled once our govt comes to power,” Goswami said.
Local organisations said hundreds of families live on land belonging to a tea garden established during the British period, though residents had been living there even before the plantation came up. Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Rabha tribal families in Palasbari, near the Assam-Meghalaya border, have been living without land pattas despite residing in the area for generations.
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