Activists and human rights advocates speaking out against the humanitarian crisis in Assam — the dehumanisation and attacks against Bengali-speaking Muslims — are facing a coordinated campaign of hate and threats from both the state machinery and right-wing groups.
The Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) and Karwan-e-Mohabbat jointly convened a public tribunal titled 'People's Tribunal on Assam: Evictions, Detentions and the Right to Belong' at the Constitution Club of India on 26 August.
However, the event was soon disrupted by a mob with aggressive and communal sloganeering, including the "Desh ke Gaddaro ko..." remark as was popularised by BJP's Anurag Thakur in 2020.
The tribunal mainly looked at how Assam has been at the centre of such attacks, marked by a surge in state-led evictions and targeted harassment against Bengali-speaking Muslim families.
In the past month alone, at least five major eviction drives have been conducted, displacing thousands of families and razing homes, with authorities often resorting to bulldozers to clear what they claim are "encroached" government and forest lands.