Identity Politics with Purpose: CM Sarma’s Assam Model
IDENTITY politics and the definition of indigenous has always been a key facet for the state of Assam and the same creates headlines, whenever the elections in the state are knocking at the door. For Assam, ‘identity politics’ may not be just seen as a political propaganda as the state has always been under serious crisis because of infiltration. As the state heads toward the 2026 Assembly elections, identity politics and the protection of jati, mati, bheti (community, land, and homeland) is again emerging as a central organising principle of political mobilisation. This is not a sudden turn. It is the outcome of Assam’s history of migration anxieties, ethnic pluralism, language-based assertions, border realities, and the long shadow of the Assam Movement and the Assam Accord. Identity politics doesn't not only mean one single identity but often it is layered between multiple factors including the serious demographic jitter, Assamese-speaking cultural nationalism, tribal assertions, Bodo autonomy politics, Barak Valley’s language identity, tea-community demands and others each with its own vocabulary and political constituency.
Assam Politics, especially, post the signing of Assam Accord has also been centring around the concept of ‘belongingness’, as ‘belongingness’ is tied to land, voting rights, and cultural survival. In Assam, therefore, elections are fought not only on the basis of performance of the government but also on who can credibly claim to “protect” Assam’s identity- culturally, territorially, and demographically. The claim of multiple governments in power and political leaders over the years on the steps taken to preserve ‘indigenous identity’ has not only become a factor for election campaigning but also a political symbol, invoked repeatedly to define legitimacy, belonging, and entitlement.
Often, political parties and leaders in Assam design their election campaigns by intermixing the two essentials of ‘identity politics’ i.e. steps undertaken for safeguarding native identity and elimination of woes created due to influx. In fact, the BJP led Government in Assam is attempting to set the tone for 2026 Assam Elections by blending “native identity” markers with an anti-influx plank, including symbolic cultural references (institutions, religious-civilisational markers) and the migration/security narrative. If we try to broadly categorise the native identity markers alongside the anti-influx plank this can be under: Cultural protection ( which includes language, satras, namghars, heritage), Territorial protection ( which includes land, eviction, land rights), Demographic protection (which includes influx, border enforcement, “push-back” discourse) and the Border, migration, and enforcement rhetoric.
The word ‘Culture’ encompasses within itself many essential features which in itself has the capacity of upholding the unique identity of a community. Practices, religious belief systems, customs, literature, folktales and folklore altogether form the core of the cultural identity of a community. As such, promotion and preservation of cultural norms and practices are vital if a community has to sustain in the longer run. The Sarma led Government in its five years terms emphasized on the very perspective of safeguarding and upholding the sui generis identity of the community. In terms of cultural protection, one of the government’s earliest moves was the creation of a dedicated administrative department namely, ‘Indigenous and Tribal Faith and Culture Department’ so as to focus exclusively on indigenous and tribal faiths and cultural practices. This shift recognised that customary belief systems, rituals, and oral traditions require documentation, institutional patronage, and continuity so as to treat indigenous culture not as folklore but as living civilisational capital deserving the same policy seriousness as education or tourism. Further, by announcing Assamese as a compulsory official language for government notifications, orders, and Acts, the Sarma government reinforced Assamese as the lingua franca of public authority, without dismantling linguistic accommodations in Barak Valley or Sixth Schedule areas. For a border state with a long history of linguistic anxiety, such reinforcement carries deep cultural reassurance.
Emphasis was laid upon by the government to protect the Satras, which are not merely religious institutions; but are the anchors of Assamese social history, land use, art, and collective memory. Recognising this, the government enacted the Assam Satra Preservation and Development Commission Act (2025), establishing a quasi-judicial body for protection, documentation, and development of the Satras.
Additionally, land-related legal provisions i.e. addition of Chapter XII to Assam Land and Revenue Regulation Act, 1886, now enable the creation of heritage belts and blocks, shielding satra land from encroachment and incompatible land use. The often-cited figure of around 4,400 acres of satra land from 922 Vaishnavite Satras encroached by illegal immigrants targeted for reclamation also reflects the strong will of the government to stop demographic shifts and preserve the cultural sites. The recently inaugurated redeveloped Batadrava Than cultural project further highlights the desire of the Sarma led Government to preserve and protect the spiritual glory of the state.
Another remarkable achievement for the state during CM Sarma’s tenure was the inscription of Charaideo Moidams,the burial mounds of the Ahom kings, on the UNESCO World Heritage, making it the first cultural World Heritage site from Northeast India. Beyond tourism, this recognition internationalises Assamese civilisational history, reinforcing the idea that Assam is not a peripheral space but a historic centre with its own political and cultural continuity.
The Sarma government’s most consequential interventions also lie in the domain of land governance as well. The government has seemingly believed in the concept of, ‘If culture is the soul of identity, land is its body.’ This pivotal mindset of the government has laid the foundation of territorial protection. By the concept of ‘Mission Basundhara’, the government represented one of the largest land governance exercises in Assam’s history to convert precarious land occupation into formal, legally defensible ownership through digitisation, resurvey, mutation simplification, and patta issuance.
Recent data reveals that under Mission Basundhara 2.0, a total of 1,682,013 applications have been registered, out of which 1,537,385 applications have been disposed of. These are merely not abstract numbers, but they represent families whose land rights are now less vulnerable to dispossession or manipulation. For indigenous communities, this formalisation has been critical. As in Assam’s history, those with weaker documentation often lost land despite long habitation and Mission Basundhara attempts to correct that structural imbalance. The government has also opened special settlement mechanisms for hereditary land claims of specific indigenous communities such as Moran and Matak groups with deep historical links to land but long-standing documentation gaps. This selective approach signals an attempt to align land policy with historical patterns of settlement, rather than adopting a one size fit model for all.
Another approach of the government that has often grabbed headlines whenever it is done is its uncompromised eviction drive, clearing illegal land occupancy and grabbing. Since 2021, official figures indicate that over 12,000 hectares of encroached land,across forest areas, grazing reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, and public land have been cleared.
Year-wise data shows sustained action rather than episodic campaigns. Recent operations, such as the clearance of over 6,000 bighas in the Burhachapori area, underscore the scale and persistence of enforcement. The government’s argument therefore remains clear: unchecked encroachment erodes indigenous access to land, forests, and commons, permanently altering territorial balance. By doing so, the state has reasserted its territorial authority in a manner unseen in decades.
Further, to emphasis on identity politics, the Sarma led government has focussed heavily on demographic protection via implementation of law, Enforcement, and Political Will. In Assam, the changing demographic trends are inseparable from identity. The Sarma government has treated this as a governance issue, not merely an electoral one. In September 2025, the Assam Cabinet approved an SOP under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, providing District Commissioners clearer operational roadmap for expelling illegal immigrants, without requiring FT clearance, thus signalling a shift from procedural paralysis to administrative action.
Media reports have also suggested hundreds of pushbacks since 2024–25, with weekly figures frequently cited by the government. While deportation numbers are contested and legally complex, the message from the government is loud and clear: its uncompromised action plan against illegal immigrants and to protect the indigenous identity of the state. In fact, in late 2025 and early 2026, there has been high-visibility rhetoric and reporting around pushback/deportation of declared foreigners, with claims of expedited deportation decisions. Identity politics is not inherently illegitimate as communities do have real cultural and economic insecurities. As such, Himanta Biswa Sarma’s approach to protecting indigenous identity is neither soft nor ambiguous. It is grounded in laws, numbers, institutions, and enforcement. Culture is preserved through commissions and UNESCO recognition; territory is secured through pattas, definitions and evictions; demography is addressed through SOPs, tribunals, and land scrutiny.
The approach of the Sarma led government might carry risks, legal challenges, humanitariancriticism, and political polarisation, however it also represents a decisive break from decades of hesitation, where identity concerns were acknowledged but rarely institutionalised and this has actually reshaped the concept of identity politics in Assam under the leadership of CM Sarma.
(Bishaldeep Kakati is an Advocate at Gauhati High Court and a socio political commentator)
January 25, 2026