Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced a series of significant legal initiatives at the Assam BJP Executive meeting on Sunday, aimed at addressing forced religious conversions, land ownership, and government job eligibility in the state. These measures include a new law against “love jihad,” restrictions on inter-religious land sales, a domicile policy for government jobs, and protection of tribal lands.
In a significant move, the Assam government is set to introduce a law against “love jihad,” which will carry a penalty of life imprisonment. Chief Minister Sarma announced this during a state executive meeting of the BJP in Guwahati, emphasizing the government’s commitment to curbing forced religious conversions.
The Chief Minister also announced new restrictions on land sales between Hindu and Muslim communities. While inter-religious land transfers cannot be entirely prohibited, the new rule mandates that such transactions can only proceed with the Chief Minister’s consent.
“Earlier, there was inter-religious land transfers. Hindus’ lands were bought by Muslims, Muslims’ lands were bought by Hindus. The government cannot prevent such transactions but it has been decided that for the land of a Hindu to be bought by a Muslim and vice-versa, there can be land sale permission only after the chief minister’s consent is taken,” he said.
Addressing the issue of job allocation, Sarma declared that only those born in Assam will be eligible for state government jobs. This new domicile policy is part of the government’s broader effort to prioritize the local population and address unemployment among native Assamese.
Asserting that his government has been working to protect the rights of indigenous people, Sarma said they have accorded priority in the “one lakh government jobs” provided as per a pre-poll promise, which will be evident when the complete list is published.
In a bid to safeguard the interests of tribal communities and other backward classes, the Assam government plans to introduce laws preventing the transfer of their lands. Sarma announced the creation of Micro Tribal Belt and Block areas outside the traditional tribal belts to further protect these communities’ land rights. Specific regions such as undivided Goalpara, Barpeta, Majuli, and Batadrawa will have new regulations to restrict land transfers to preserve the cultural and social fabric of these areas.
The Assam Chief Minister said, “We have decided to bring a new law so that small villages among the tribal people outside the tribal belt and block are converted into Micro Tribal Belt and Block so that no one can look at the land of the tribal people outside the tribal belt.”
“Under the proposed new law, land owned by tribals and people belonging to Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Castes will not be allowed to be transferred in undivided Goalpara. Similarly, a law will be enacted to allow transfer of land in Barpeta, Majuli and Batadrawa, important centres for followers of Vaishnavism, among residents of these areas only.”, Sarma said.
CM Sarma further highlighted his commitment to securing the future of Assam, stating, “If the public wants more areas to be protected in a similar manner, we will do it. We know that we cannot chase away anyone to Bangladesh, but with the last ounce of power in us, we will work to secure the future of Assam.”
The review meeting was attended by Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura.
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