Assam Chief Minister HImanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that only ‘Miyas’, referring to Bengali speaking Muslims are being evicted in the state. Originally a pejorative label, “Miya” has long been used in Assam to target Bengali-speaking Muslims, who are often portrayed by non-Bengali speakers as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, however, members of the community have begun reclaiming the term, adopting it as an assertion of identity and an act of defiance against stigma and exclusion.
Sarma further accused the opposition parties of concentrating on placating the Miyas and said that congress state headquarters has been “sawping” with people of the community.
“Only Miyas are evicted in Assam. How can Assamese people be evicted?” Sarma was quoted saying to reporters.
Sarma claimed that it was the media which spread rumours of possible eviction drive in Guwahati hills. “Till the election, when not a single eviction will happen, then people residing in the hills will understand that it was the media which gave them tension,” he said.
“The BJP has been in power in the state for 10 years now. Where has eviction been carried out in Guwahati hills?” Sarma said.
“The Congress has said that it has received 750 applications from prospective candidates seeking party ticket. But what they didn’t say is that 600 of these applicants are Miyas. Only about 120-130 applicants are Hindus,” sarma said, accusing the Congress of appeasing only the Bengali-speaking Muslims.
“There has been a ‘Miya ujan’ in Rajib Bhawan (swamping of the state Congress headquarters by Miyas),” Sarma added.
“The Congress party has become a threat to our religion, culture, and the more convincingly we defeat them, the more we can save our state and ‘jati’ (community),” Sarma claimed.
“I want to reveal it by January 31. But since there is the Union Budget on February 1, there might be a delay by a day or two,” he added.
The state government had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to examine allegations of interference in India’s internal affairs by Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who was claimed to have links with Gogoi’s British wife, Elizabeth Colburn.
The SIT submitted its report to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also holds the Home portfolio, on September 10—the deadline he had earlier set for furnishing evidence to substantiate his allegations against Gogoi.
