India’s BJP government demolishes Muslim homes in latest crackdown
Bulldozers flatten settlements in northeastern state of Assam as government expands campaign using land laws to target Muslim communities
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Hundreds of Muslim families in India’s northeastern state of Assam were left homeless after the state government launched a massive demolition drive in Goalpara district, continuing a series of forced evictions that rights groups say are aimed at marginalizing the state’s Muslim population.
Bulldozers arrived in the Dahikata Reserve Forest area on Sunday, flattening homes and shops under heavy police protection. Officials said the operation targeted what they called “illegal encroachments” across more than 150 hectares of forest land. By nightfall, around 580 families had been displaced, with authorities warning that the demolitions could continue for two days.
Assam’s Hindu nationalist chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, has publicly framed the demolitions as environmental action. “We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to protect and restore every inch of our forest land,” he wrote on social media, vowing to “revive biodiversity” and remove what he called illegal settlers.
But analysts say the campaign has little to do with conservation. Since taking office in 2021, Sarma — a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — has repeatedly targeted the state’s Bengali-origin Muslim population, branding them “encroachers” and accusing them of a “demographic invasion.”
His government has used bulldozers as a political weapon, mirroring similar anti-Muslim eviction tactics seen in other BJP-ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Local residents and human rights defenders say the evictions in Goalpara were carried out without notice or rehabilitation plans, violating Supreme Court guidelines that require resettlement of displaced people. Witnesses reported seeing women and children standing amid debris as bulldozers tore through bamboo and tin homes.
Officials claimed that over 900 hectares of forest land have been “recovered” in the district this year. But civil rights advocates say such figures mask the human toll — entire settlements of poor Muslim farmers and labourers destroyed under the guise of environmental protection.
Sarma has often portrayed Assam’s Muslims as outsiders, despite many families having lived in the state for generations. His administration has tightened citizenship verification drives, demolished mosques, and launched surveillance measures in Muslim-majority areas, all while invoking nationalist rhetoric about protecting Assamese identity.
Analysts say the Goalpara demolition fits into a larger ideological campaign: one that redefines land, faith, and identity through the lens of Hindutva — transforming state policy into a tool of exclusion.
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