Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. | Photo Credit: ANI GUWAHATICongress instigated encroachers of land reserved for tribal people to attack the police and administrative officials during Thursday’s eviction drive that led to the death of two people in police firing, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday (September 13, 2024).The incident happened in the Sonapur area of the Kamrup (Metropolitan) district about 30 km east of Guwahati. The two people who succumbed to bullet injuries were identified as Jubair Ali and Haidar Ali.“The land from where the encroachers were evicted falls in the tribal belts and blocks, a category created by Congress to protect the land rights of the indigenous peoples of Assam. But leaders of the same party began criticising the drive, making a section of the people violent,” the Chief Minister said.“No community other than the tribal people can occupy or live in tribal belts and blocks. There was no resistance during the eviction drive for the first three days and the encroachers went back to where they came from. After the instigation, they attacked the police personnel and other officials with sharp weapons and the police retaliated,” he said, adding that 22 police officers and a revenue circle officer were among the injured.He also said some slogans raised by the encroachers were similar to those heard in Bangladesh, “pointing to the fanning of fundamentalism”.The State’s Director General of Police, Gyanendra Pratap Singh, said the illegal occupants of 248 bighas of tribal land at Kachutali in Sonapur attached the police and officials with bamboo sticks, stones, and swords. He did not rule out a conspiracy behind the attack after visiting the site on Friday.“This land is defined as tribal land as demarcated in 1950 according to the Assam Land Regulations of 1886. Ahead of the eviction drive, public announcements about violation of land rules were made for seven days. The drive was started on September 9 by the District Commissioner under police protection,” he said. Published – September 13, 2024 06:56 pm IST