The Economy and Politics of Eviction

Arup Baisya

In Assam, the Bhumi Aadhikar Joutha Sangram Samiti, a joint platform involved in the anti-eviction movement claims that the Assam government has targeted 55000 bighas of land for acquisition. Out of this, 49000 bighas are inhabited by non-Muslims, mainly indigenous tribal communities, while the remaining 6,000 bighas are inhabited by Bengali-speaking Muslims. To mask the all-pervading eviction, especially of the poor toiling masses, the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) government devised the eviction drive through inhuman brutality and symbolic bulldozer-aggression against the Minority Muslim inhabitants, so that the polity is communally polarised and unity initiatives amongst the toiling masses, cutting across communities, become ineffective.

Is India, under the BJP, developing a national strategy that combines neoliberal economics with a form of Chinese-style authoritarian governance? The conditions that facilitated China’s rise–such as coordinated small and medium-scale manufacturing networks, Mao-era land reforms, a history of cooperative production, state-controlled capital under a single-party rule, and favourable value transfers from global trade–are lacking in India. India’s relative success in emerging markets can be partly attributed to its delayed transition from fixed currency exchange-rate regimes to a market-dependent system. This delay occurred mainly during the UPA era, albeit due to the pressure from democratic pluralism. However, under the NDA, this democratic pressure is being dismantled in favour of a more authoritarian nationalism.

But what foundations will support this new nationalism? The BJP is aggressively attempting to create that foundation by pushing forward a distorted model of capitalist investment and growth. Domestic capital, constrained by technological dependence, tends to invest only in sectors like mining, electricity, and infrastructure. High-tech investment would require reliance on the U S or China. But how can such domestic investment remain profitable when over 90% of the population lacks sufficient purchasing power, when export markets are shrinking, when raw material demand is declining, and when a demand crisis in consumer goods is dragging down capital goods production as well?

By obstructing the natural trajectory of capitalist development, the Indian state is now privileging military-industrial investment. Yet even here, the same problem persists that jobless growth and labour compression cannot sustain nationalism, though they may yield short-term political gains. Over time, even electoral democracy may act as a barrier to such a regime. Otherwise, the tyrannical rule might lead to systemic chaos, or perhaps, the birth of a new socialist politics.

The plunder of Assam’s mineral resources has recently become a topic of public discourse. Despite prior knowledge of Assam’s oil, gas, and coal reserves, investment and production have not increased. Thus, natural resource availability does not guarantee profitable extraction, especially in volatile markets. Private capital will hesitate, and the state’s borrowing capacity is also limited. Domestic loan avenues are narrow, and foreign loans come with strings–dependency, exploitation, and deeper crises for the Indian people. In such circumstances, how can authoritarian nationalism be sustained? Yet, in the BJP’s desperate push for investment, eviction politics seems the only remaining strategy–a classic catch-22.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposed a blanket ban on coal mining in Meghalaya in 2014, which was lifted in 2019. This year, in March, the first mining lease owned by Dapmain Shyllahas was inaugurated, marking a step toward implementing scientific coal mining. This development follows agreements signed between the central government and three miners from Meghalaya in January 2024. There is news in the socio-political circles of Assam that similar agreements have been made between the central government and other lease owners in Assam. However, this information cannot be verified as many mining agreements, particularly those involving private companies, include commercially sensitive information that is not publicly disclosed.

The historically significant coal production in Margherita, Assam, home to the North Eastern Coalfields, a unit of Coal India Limited, is transitioning away from coal. Some mines are closing, leading to potential job losses for workers. Since 1980, five coalfields have been discovered in the KarbiAnglong district, with the most recent located in Klurdung, in addition to the Makum Coalfield in the Tinsukia district. Given the recent coal lease agreements in Meghalaya, it can be inferred that the central government is placing significant importance on coal production in the northeastern states of India.

Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Vikshit Bharat’ project, which aims for national growth, is largely reliant on the country’s youngest population, with a median age of 28 years. This demographic serves as a cheap labour force, contributing to rapid urbanisation, the expansion of the middle class, and infrastructure development. However, the growth seen in the service sector, mining, and tourism has led to significant displacement and dispossession, leaving many vulnerable communities uprooted from the agricultural and traditional economy. Due to this model of jobless growth, imports of coal for blending by thermal power plants have sharply decreased by 38.8% (Source: Ministry of Coal). A research study on understanding industrial energy use in the Indian manufacturing sector indicates that gains in energy productivity do not necessarily translate to resource gains–something climate change policymakers are likely to prioritise.

This raises critical questions: Why is there such a strong push for mining in northeast India, coupled with an eviction drive that displaces people from their agricultural and traditional economies, without a viable, inclusive industrial policy to integrate them into the job market? Is this push influenced by the perception that Chinese investments will benefit India, as suggested by a recent Pew Survey? The survey, conducted across 25 countries from January to April 2025, offered insights into how Indians view China amid shifting geopolitical dynamics, and does this context align with recent shifts in India’s ‘Look East’ policy? These questions demand thoughtful answers to anticipate the future of northeast India. However, the ongoing eviction drive threatens to destabilise society, potentially leading to chaos, unless a political discourse centred on alternative economic development from a working-class perspective emerges within the democratic resistance movement.

But what is the material basis for the temporary success the BJP hopes for through this political economy of eviction in Assam? Is any counter-strategy emerging?

There is deep social despair in Assam. For the educated youth of the middle and lower-middle classes, neither quality employment nor social security is guaranteed. With no visible solutions to widespread unemployment, these sections, even in rural areas, are increasingly willing to sacrifice the interests of labouring people for the promise of economic opportunity, even becoming suppliers of cheap labour for capital. In such a bleak and directionless political economy, where even the dream of an alternative is absent, the state finds it easier to co-opt the middle class and precarious lower-middle stratum into subcontracting, labour recruitment, and supply chains to form a hierarchy of intermediaries, especially when there is no vision for an egalitarian future. Fragmented labour communities, watching sections of their own communities turning collaborators, may succumb to despair and passive acceptance.

Therefore, to dismantle the political economy of eviction, one must focus urgently on building unity among working people, on organising the labouring classes within the spheres of both grassroots mass movements and electoral struggles. Building labour organisations and advancing mass movements will help seed a narrative of political alternatives. Empowering local governance like panchayats and gramsabhas, radical land reform, public support for small and medium-scale enterprises, and above all, cooperative production, these must be gradually woven into the fabric of democratic struggle and resistance.

Back to Home Page

Frontier
Vol 58, No. 7, Aug 10 - 16, 2025