Assam Eviction: Uproar in House, AIUDF Walks Out as Speaker Rejects Adjournment Motion

Guwahati: A day after the Assam government started one of the major eviction drives at Batadrava, the Assembly on Tuesday witnessed chaotic scenes with opposition AIUDF staging walkout after rejection of an adjournment motion to discuss the matter.

After the Question Hour on the first day of the Winter Session, Speaker Biswajit Daimary informed the House that he has rejected the motion brought by All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) to discuss the eviction drive at Batadrava in central Assam district of Nagaon.

"I have no objection to the topic. These can be discussed through other ways. There is no need to adjourn all the works of the day and discuss the matter in the House," he added.

AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam replied that the matter is very recent and is of utmost importance to the people.

"The government is asking people to apply for the land rights under its flagship Mission Basundhara scheme. On the other hand, it's making people homeless who were once settled there by earlier state governments. Why is this double standard?" he asked.

After rejection of the motion, the AIUDF MLAs rose to their feet and started shouting with their demand to discuss the matter under the Adjournment Motion.

Responding to the demand, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika said the eviction issue can be discussed during questions of Revenue department as well as in other matters.

Then the AIUDF members went to the Well of the House, showed placards and raised slogans against eviction exercise of the Assam government.

They shouted slogans like 'Eviction is a serious matter' and 'Let us discuss eviction', while 'Inhuman eviction' and 'Rehabilitate Batadrava's evicted people' are few of the lines written in the placards.

The BJP MLAs also went to the Well of the House and raised counter slogans to the AIUDF members.

With the Speaker not paying any heed to their demand, the AIUDF MLAs after some time staged a Walkout from the Assam Assembly.

Later, AIUDF MLA Ashraful Hussain toldPTI outside the House that all their legislators have proceeded to Batadrava to take stock of the situation arising out of the eviction drive.

The Assam government which has been carrying out an ongoing drive to evict encroachers on land belonging to the government or Vaishnavite Sattras (monasteries), on Monday launched eviction operations at medieval saint Srimanta Sankardeva's birthplace here, a senior police officer said.

The drive in the state's Nagoan district, billed as one of the largest in the region in terms of the number of people affected uprooting more than 5,000 alleged encroachers, was launched amidst tight security with a battalion of Assam police deployed to ward off possible opposition to the move.