Manohar Pegu, a member of National Alliance of Peoples’ Movements (NAPM)and Ritupan Pegu, a member of Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Committee (GKLHRC) had been surrounded by 100+ people in Rongajan Village near Kohora, Kaziranga Constituency yesterday night. They were in the process of collecting the testimonies of 45 families displaced by the proposed Hyatt Hotel in Inglay Pathar when this mob started issuing threats to both Manohar and Ritupan belonging to Bokakhat. The mob was chanting various slogans against the Convenor of Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Committee (GKLHRC) convenor, Pranab Doley and GKLHRC member, Rajib Pegu. They prevented Manoj and Ritupan from leaving the village while damaged the car that belonged to Doley.

Further, the mob assaulted Minali Gowala and her young daughter in their house in Rongajan. Minali is one of the farmers who had been evicted from the said land acquired for the proposed Hyatt Hotel and Resorts. Instead of taking the witness statement of Minali and her daughter, who were victims of the mob violence, Bokakhat Police arrested Geeta Gowala, another farmer who had accompanied Minali and her daughter to the hospital.

When concerned friends of Ritupan, Manohar and GKLHRC went to the local police in Bokakhat seeking their intervention, the police initially refused to take any action. Instead, a few policemen attacked their friends and detained Saurav Patgiri, an independent research scholar and Subham, a local youth who had accompanied Saurav.

While there was no action against the mob, the police officials illegally detained Manohar and Ritupan along with Minali Gowala, one of the people evicted from land where the proposed Hyatt Hotel and Resorts will be built. On the other hand, Saurav and Subham continue to be in the custody of Bokakhat Police.

There is a context and a pattern behind these attacks. Pranab Doley as a political activist in the Greater Kaziranga region has been vocal around the issues faced by the people of the region. Pranab had contested against Bokakhat MLA and Agriculture Minister, Atul Bora in the previous assembly elections of 2021 securing the second position when the poll results were declared. Earlier too, Pranab faced life threats from various elements for raising issues pertaining to the people of Kaziranga and for standing in the elections. The present mob attack is no different.

“This mob attack shows a complete administrative and law and order failure in Kaziranga. This is a preplanned political attack orchestrated by members of the ruling party who were opposed to the questions we have been raising on various issues of Kaziranga, including the illegal land transfers to five-star hotels. The police and the district administration are hand-in-glove the mob who attacked our members and the victims of the land acquisition. It was very clear that who the mob wanted to murder me and our members,” said Pranab Doley.

Over the last two years, GKLHRC, a mass organisation comprising more than 100 villages from in and around Kaziranga, have submitted numerous memorandum demanding the land rights for the people who have been evicted from their homesteads in Inglay Pathar. Land records obtained from the evicted families show that they were cultivating the piece of land for over three generations. They have documents proving their hold over these lands which had been duly informed to the Golaghat District Administration. Yet, on June 7, the District Administration demolished the house of one Adivasi farmer leading to a mass protest by the evicted families and members of GKLHRC. At present, the said land has been fenced with a police battalion guarding it.

The land where the 5-star Hyatt Hotel has been proposed is also a grazing ground for the wild animals from Kaziranga. The communities depending on this have been coexisting with the wild animals and sharing their agricultural produce, their common resources with these animals. A section of conservation organisations including UNESCO World Heritage Sites advisory bodies have written to the Assam Government to immediately stop the diversion of the said land for 5-star hotels. More importantly, the National Green Tribunal has taken a suo moto cognizance of the issue and there is a case against the transfer of the land in Kaziranga pending in the NGT.

As a result of the land diversion, land sharks as well as petty politicians who would have benefited immensely from the transfer of the said land to the 5-star hotels, have been misleading a section of people against GKLHRC and the people opposing the land transfer. With these arrests, the Bokakhat Police have completely violated their duty to protect the citizens and sided with an unruly and murderous mob and their sponsors.