From Evictions to Corporate Land Deals: Assam’s Unequal Land Politics

Approximately 3,000 bigha land is being allocated by the government of Assam to a private cement company called Mahabal Cement in the Dima Hasao district of Assam. On hearing the case of this extraordinary amount of land allotment to a private party, on 12 August, 2025, the judge got visibly shocked. The short video of the shocking expression of the judge, during the hearing of the case at Gauhati High Court went viral.In the video, Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi is seen along with the lawyer of the corporate. He says, “Three Thousand bighas? The entire NC district? What is going on? 3,000 bighas allotted to a private company?” Then lawyer of the cement company says, “It is a barren land”. Then the judge counters, “We know how barren is NC hills. 3,000 bighas? Is this some kind of joke or what?” The lawyer says, “We need the land.” The judge replies, “Your need is not the issue, public interest is the issue.”Assam has quite a few autonomous councils in the state, such as Bodoland Territorial Council (BTR), Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), The North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC), and Dima Hasao District. These regions are categorised as Sixth Schedule with the intent to protect the tribals, and their customary practices. This particular case of allotment of land to a private company happened in Umrongso of Dima Hasao district, which is an autonomous district under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. The district is administered by the NCHAC, which has all the powers except police, law, and order.Against this controversial allocation, 22 petitioners filed a case at the Gauhati High Court. The petitioners are from various villages of Dima Hasao including Nobdi Longkukro, Thaosenpur, and Choto Larpheng of Umrongso and Haflong Town Blk IT (Bazar) and Jembru of Haflong. This factory will affect primarily two villages - Nobdi Longkukro, which is a Dimasa village and the Choto Larpheng, which is a Karbi village, and the petition is filed jointly by the Dimasa and Karbi people.The petitioners alleged that they were lawful resident of the area and evicted forcefully by the government to allocate the land to the cement company. The opposition claimed that this cement factory belonged to the Adani group, which later the Adani group denied.This area is inhabited by various tribes including the Dimasa and Karbi tribes, and indigenous people in Assam whom the Himanta Biswa Sarma government projects itself to represent and protect. Umrangso is a hill-station, an eco-hotspot, a tourist spot, with rich diversity of flora and fauna. Once a cement factory comes up in such an important environmental hotspot, the beauty and ecological richness of the area is likely to dilute. It is noteworthy to mention that many existing industries in Assam hardly follow the environmental regulations and norms that allow the people living in the vicinity to lead a healthy life. The Bongaigaon Refinery, located in the Chirang district of western Assam, is a case in point. People living in the vicinity of the refinery are regularly inhaling polluted and contaminated air coming from the plant. The air quality of the area has become severely bad, the water level drastically gone down, the overall environment has become extremely unhealthy to reside in.Evictions in Assam, SIR in Bengal? Migrants Pay for BJP's Anti-Bangladeshi PushHowever, this incident of allotment of such huge tract of land to corporate, has shocked many. This is because Assam government has been bulldozing hundreds of homes brutally, mostly belonging of landless Miya Muslims and some other vulnerable groups such as tribals, in the name or pro-indigenous politics. These bulldozing of houses are termed as “peaceful evictions” by the government and the pliant mainstream media. They are happening in various districts such as Goalpara, Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nagaon, Kamrup, Darrang etc. The subaltern people and their children are thrown on the streets with no home, no food, no water, no income, and not even sufficient clothing. Tagged by the powerful term “illegal encroacher”, the people affected are exposed to a very inhumane and wretched condition. On the other hand, the state has been providing such huge tracts of land to private individuals who may or may not have any Assamese connect.The allocation of this land, which has come to limelight only because of a viral video, is not an isolated event. About 400 km away from Umrangso, in the Bodoland Territorial Region’s (BTR) Rowmari area, the controversial Baba Ramdev was granted a huge tract of land in 2014. The 3,800 acres land was given “free of charge” in the Chirang district of BTR. He is presently running a private school and other business activities on said land. The Baba allegedly received lands in other places of Assam too such as Golaghat. In another instance, about 9,500 bigha land was allegedly given to Adani group in the Umrangso of Dima Hasao district, which is presently under contestation and inquiry of National Commission for Schedule Tribes (NCST). In Assam one bigha land is 14,400 sq ft. This allocation has affected villages such as Boro-lokhindong and Choto-lokhindong of Umrangso. The villagers of these areas have protested against the allocation of the land to private entities but to no avail. Notably, mode of ownership in Dima Hasao is mostly the community, instead of the individuals. In western Assam’s Dhubri district, a huge bulldozing drive took place in Chirakuta, Charuabakhra area in July 2025. Hundreds of landless Miya Muslim families were made homeless. While the landless people’s homes were bulldozed, some people from the same area with land patta are pressurised to leave. Even their electricity connection has been disconnected, a precursor if any to forceful acquisition. 'Tore Down Our Homes, Destroyed Village': Thousands Evicted in Assam's GolaghatThe above discussed land allocations to private capitals by the government are just a tip of the iceberg in the context of Assam. Details about a majority of such allocations are difficult to figure out because of the opaque nature of transition between the government and the corporates.These lands are given mostly for a small price and the benefit to the state exchequer, if any, is clearly unclear. This opaqueness and forced acquisition also manifest political favouritism which extraordinarily jeopardises not the vulnerable communities, but the state’s interest. The political favouritism, particularly, is severely affecting the fate of thousands of vulnerable people in Assam. When we talk about the vulnerable people in Assam, we should not forget the most vulnerable among all, the Miya Muslims of the state.In a state where many marginalised landless peasants toil for successive generations striving in vain for a small piece of land to build a home of their own, allocation of thousands of bighas of land to corporates underscores the deep existing inequality in the society.(Nazimuddin Siddique teaches Sociology at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He can be reached at sid.nazimuddin@gmail.com. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)Assam’s Aadhaar Curb: Politics Masquerading as Law Won't Stand Judicial Scrutiny

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Assam’s 3,000-Bigha Land Deal Reveals Hypocrisy of BJP's 'Indigenous' Politics

The allocation of this land, which has come to limelight only because of a viral video, is not an isolated event.

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Topics: Land Acquisition Assam Gauhati High Court