The day started with the sound of engines. By 6 a.m., bulldozers were rolling into Dahikata Reserved Forest. By evening, more than 1,140 bighas (around 380 acres) of land stood empty. No homes. No mosque. No schools. Five government primary schools were flattened.
For 588 families, over 3,000 people everything they had built over decades was gone in hours.Abdul Karim, a 58-year-old farmer, stood in the middle of what used to be his home. He held his Aadhaar card and a bundle of old land papers. “We’ve been here since the 1980s,” he told reporters from PTI. “The government gave us electricity lines. They built toilets under Swachh Bharat. They even gave us water connections. We have all documents. If we were encroachers, why did they give us all this? Now they treat us like outsiders and destroy everything.”
Karim’s words represented the pain of hundreds. These families say they are not new settlers. Many came after floods washed away their villages on the Brahmaputra riverbanks. They built small mud houses, planted rice, raised children. The government schools stood here for years. Electricity poles were set up by the power department. Toilets came with government funds. Yet, on this day, all of it was called “illegal.” 
The police say the operation was peaceful. Goalpara Superintendent of Police Nabaneet Mahanta did not take calls but replied on WhatsApp. He said the eviction was ordered by the Gauhati High Court in Suo Motu PIL No. 1/2022. The court had directed the removal of all encroachments from reserved forests across Assam. The operation covered five clusters and removed 588 illegal structures. It started at 6 a.m. and ended without any violence.For
M.K. Yadava, Special Chief Secretary of the State Forest Department, spoke to reporters at the site. He called it a big success. “We have cleared 1,140 bighas of forest land,” he said. “This area is linked to the Sri Sri Surya Pahar heritage site. It is a key path for wild elephants. We served notices a month ago. Nearly 70 percent of families left on their own. From tomorrow, we will put up fences and start planting trees. Today, we have returned this land from humans back to the elephants.”
Goalpara Deputy Commissioner Prodip Timung did not answer calls, texts, or WhatsApp messages from Northeast Scoop. But in other media reports, he said eviction notices were given to 580 families 15 days ago.
However, many families say they never got proper notice. Some say they heard about the eviction only when the bulldozers arrived.
Rejaul Karim Sarkar, President of the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU), spoke exclusively to Northeast Scoop. “This is a disaster,” he said. “Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is killing people by making them homeless. He will have to pay for his sins. This land is not fully forest. It is revenue land. People have lived here for generations. From the beginning, the CM has targeted Muslims in Assam. He is doing this to win Hindu votes in the 2026 elections. He is hiding his failures – rising prices of rice, oil, and daily needs. He couldn’t control inflation. He couldn’t solve unemployment. He is hiding the Zubeen Garg case. To cover all this, he plays Hindu-Muslim politics.”Sarkar did not stop there. “From Sadiya to Dhubri, from Barak to Brahmaputra – everywhere, the CM targets Muslims. Today, schools and a mosque were demolished. Nearly 4,000 students are affected. What is the Chief Minister doing for their education? This is shameful. This is Hitler rule in Assam. To prove he is a true Hindutva leader, he is sacrificing Muslim people. The BJP and Himanta Biswa Sarma will face the anger of the people.”
The law is strict. The Indian Forest Act of 1927 says no one can live, farm, or build in reserved forests. Breaking this can mean jail for up to two years or a fine. The Forest Rights Act of 2006 was meant to help people living in forests before December 2005. They can claim rights to stay and farm if they prove it. But in Assam, most claims under this act are rejected or stuck in files.
The Gauhati High Court ruled in 2025 that no one ; Hindu, Muslim or anyone can stay on forest land. People must get 15 days to explain their case, then 15 more days to leave. But many in Dahikata say this process was not followed.
The Supreme Court has also spoken on forest land. In the T.N. Godavarman case of 1996, it said any land that looks like forest must be protected, even if not officially marked. In 2025, the Supreme Court stopped evictions in Golaghat’s Uriamghat area, saying people must get proper notice and a chance for rehabilitation.
But no such order came for Dahikata.
The numbers are worrying. Assam has 26,832 square kilometers of recorded forest land. But 3,621 square kilometers more than the size of Goa is under illegal occupation. Goalpara is a hotspot for human-elephant conflict. Since 2000, 175 people have died here because of elephants. Around 25 elephants die every year in fights with humans. Assam lost 86 square kilometers of forest between 2021 and 2023, according to the India State of Forest Report. Much of this loss is due to roads, mining, and tea gardens not just small farmers.So why target only the poor? Big projects get permission to cut forests. Poor families get bulldozers.The government promises help. In other evictions, they said each family would get Rs 50,000. In Kaziranga, only 332 families actually got the money. In Dhubri, 1,400 families were moved to a sandbar on the river: no land, no water, no future.
Here in Goalpara, no one knows where the 588 families will go. Some are sleeping under trees. Others are crowding into relatives’ homes. Children are the worst hit, especially the students. Exams were in the middle. Books, benches, blackboards all crushed.
Forest officials say they are doing the right thing. “We are protecting Assam’s forests,” Yadava said. “Elephants need this land to survive.” No one can argue with that. Assam’s forest cover is shrinking. Elephants are dying. But making poor families pay the full price while big projects go on is not fair.
Tonight, a herd of elephants will be seen walking on the cleared land. They will trumpeted in the dark. Nature will rejoice.
But by the roadside, children will cry. Mothers will cook on open fires. Fathers will stare at the sky, unsure where to go.
The forest has been saved. But 588 families have been broken. Where will these people live?
Who will teach their children?
When will justice matter more than bulldozers?
The people of Dahikata are waiting.
The elephants are not.
