Kaziranga luxury hotel row deepens as Doley's arrest widens land rights debate
The controversy surrounding a proposed luxury tourism project near Kaziranga National Park has escalated into a major political and legal flashpoint, with the arrests of indigenous rights activist Pranab Doley triggering fresh protests, sharp political reactions and renewed scrutiny of the project.
Demonstrations continued in Bokakhat... where supporters of Doley demanded his immediate release, accusing the Assam government of using criminal cases to suppress dissent against the proposed five-star hotel and Tea Tribes Museum near the ecologically sensitive Kaziranga landscape.
... At the heart of the dispute are the Assam government's plans to construct a five-star hotel and a Tea Tribes Museum at Ingle Pathar near Kaziranga. While the government maintains that the projects will boost tourism and preserve the heritage of Assam's tea garden community, indigenous organisations contend that they threaten livelihoods, wildlife corridors and the rights of local communities.
... Doley... has emerged as one of the leading voices opposing the projects. He was arrested in Guwahati on July 12 in connection with a protest held on June 26 and was produced before a court on Monday, which remanded him to seven days of police custody. In a statement... the [Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee] alleged that the government is attempting to "silence indigenous voices" resisting what it described as the forcible acquisition of Adivasi-owned agricultural and grazing land.