Guwahati: The Assam Land Revenue Regulation Amendment, 2026, has effectively placed people of Bangladeshi and East Bengal origin in the same legal category as indigenous Assamese, undermining the law’s own stated goal of protecting Satra land from encroachment, senior Supreme Court advocate Upamanyu Hazarika alleged on Saturday.
Speaking at a press conference in Guwahati, Hazarika said the amendment’s definition of “original inhabitant” was broad enough to cover people of East Bengal origin who have lived in Assam for three continuous generations prior to 2006 — a threshold he argued could defeat the amendment’s core purpose of protecting historically and culturally significant sites, including Satras, and restricting settlement within a five-kilometre radius of them.
‘Amendment Could Protect Encroachers‘
Citing government data, Hazarika said roughly 15,288 bighas — about 5,000 acres — of Satra land is currently under encroachment, concentrated mainly in Barpeta and Nagaon districts.
Under the amended regulation, structures of historical or cultural significance that are at least 250 years old are granted protection, with settlement restrictions applying within a five-kilometre radius. Three categories of people are eligible to reside within this protected zone, Hazarika said: “original inhabitants,” “indigenous ethnic communities,” and “disadvantaged groups.” The indigenous ethnic community category includes the Moran, Matak, Chutia, Koch Rajbongshi and Ahom communities, while disadvantaged groups include Adivasis and other communities.
The problem, according to Hazarika, lies in how “original inhabitant” is defined. He said the category folds in Bangladeshi and East Bengal-origin persons alongside genuinely indigenous and local communities, effectively placing them on equal legal footing. That, he argued, would make it far harder to evict alleged encroachers from Satra land if they can establish themselves as “original inhabitants” under the amended law.
‘Nullifies Assam Accord, Clause 6 Safeguards’
Hazarika further alleged that the amendment works against the objectives of the Assam Accord — particularly Clause 6, which calls for constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect the cultural, social and linguistic identity of Assam’s indigenous people.
He noted that Assam had agreed, under the Accord, to accept the burden of illegal migration up to March 25, 1971, making protective measures for indigenous communities essential.
Hazarika recalled that in 2015, while serving as a Supreme Court-appointed commissioner, he had recommended safeguards including reservation of land for those who were residents of Assam in 1951 and their descendants. He also pointed to the recommendations of the Brahma Committee, set up by the Assam government in 2017, and the Clause 6 committee, constituted by the Union Home Ministry in 2020 — both of which, he said, recommended safeguards in land, employment and trade using 1951 as the base year.
“The entire foreigner identification process and reservation for indigenous people has been nullified,” Hazarika said, arguing that the new definition of “original inhabitant” undercuts these earlier safeguards.
NRC Re-Verification ‘Imperative’
Hazarika renewed his call for re-verification of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, pointing to the exclusion of 19,65,657 applicants from the final NRC — a significant number of whom, he noted, were Hindus protected under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
He also cited Assam government data presented in the state Assembly showing that 1,679 Bangladeshis were deported or pushed back between 2024 and June 30, 2026 — a figure he contrasted sharply with a Union Home Ministry estimate of 80 lakh Bangladeshis living in Assam in 2016. This gap, he argued, underscores the need for a fresh verification exercise.
“It is for this reason re-verification of NRC, all of which data is digitised, is imperative,” he said, adding that he has laid out a proposed methodology for such an exercise in his co-authored book, NRC – Turning Hope Into Despair.
‘Government Has Failed to Deliver on Mandate’
Hazarika criticised the BJP-led state government, saying it had repeatedly won electoral mandates on the issues of illegal immigration and indigenous protection but had failed to follow through. He noted that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had promised, ahead of last year’s Assembly elections, to implement the Clause 6 committee’s recommendations in full.
“Nothing is evident,” Hazarika said, alleging that the new land amendment works against the safeguards it claims to strengthen. He also questioned the apparent contrast between the government’s crackdown on encroachment in forest areas and its more permissive approach to defining who can settle in protected Satra zones.
‘Foreigners Issue Must Be Resolved’
Hazarika said resolving the foreigners issue remains central to Assam’s development. “For any meaningful progress, the foreigners issue has to be resolved, the only solution being re-verification and a correct NRC, coupled with protective measures for indigenous people,” he said.
He announced plans to set up a forum to build public awareness and mobilise opinion in favour of NRC re-verification, and said it would also support similar efforts by other groups. Hazarika added that he had relocated professionally from Delhi to Guwahati to practise in Assam’s courts while continuing to pursue these public-interest issues.