Pranab Doley in Assam: The Indian activist jailed after taking on a hotel in Kaziranga

Officials say the new five-star hotel, to be built across 10 acres, will bring investment, jobs and wealthier tourists to Kaziranga. But dozens of families say they are being displaced from land they have cultivated for generations.

The district administration says the land being used for the project is owned by the government.

Deputy Commissioner Biswajit Phukan told the BBC that most protesting families have land registered in their names or those of their ancestors, which has not been taken for the project.

“It is not disputed that some persons may have been cultivating or otherwise using portions of the [project] land. However, the land parcel in question was never allotted or settled in the names of the persons who are presently protesting against the project,” he said.

Authorities, he said, had provided financial assistance and land to eligible residents after verification, and promised job skills training to help locals find work.

Phukan declined to comment on Doley’s detention, saying: “We do not wish to make any observation… that could prejudice the investigation or judicial proceedings” and added that the administration remained “extremely sensitive” to local concerns.

Activists say the dispute taps into a much older question of who has rights to the land surrounding Kaziranga park.

For Doley, that question is deeply personal.

He grew up in a farming family near Kaziranga, on the floodplains of the Brahmaputra, where the river routinely shifts its banks and forces families to resettle.

As the river changes course, fields can disappear faster than official records can keep up, leaving families with uncertain claims to land they have cultivated for generations.

“My village has been displaced multiple times due to floods and erosion,” Doley said in an earlier interview, external. “My parents, even today, don’t have land rights.”

He also saw how this plays out in Kaziranga. When the park floods, rhinos, elephants and other animals move towards higher ground, crossing farms and settlements, destroying crops and sometimes coming into deadly conflict with people.