Breaking a long silence from civil society in Assam, 177 scholars, lawyers, activists, journalists and students have issued a public statement condemning what they describe as the “prejudicial and alarmingly hateful rhetoric” of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma against Bengali-speaking Muslims, commonly referred to as ‘Miyas’.
The statement, which has been circulating on social media, accuses the Chief Minister of openly inciting discrimination and suffering against a specific ethno-religious minority and warns that the actions and language of the Assam government are perilously close to the United Nations definition of ethnic cleansing.
The intervention comes against the backdrop of a series of statements by Sarma that critics say mark an unprecedented escalation in hate speech by a constitutional authority.
In one such remark, Sarma said, “Trouble the Miya Muslims by any means. If they face trouble, they will go from Assam… We are directly against the Miya Muslims. We are not hiding anything.” In another instance, he said he was encouraging people to “give trouble to Miya” and warned of a “tsunami”, adding that “the result will be in Pakistan.”
The signatories argue that such communally charged language, delivered by an elected Chief Minister, positions Bengali Muslims as deserving of suffering and legitimises public hostility against them. “This ushers in a new era of impunity for hate speech in Assam,” the statement says.
The concern is not limited to rhetoric alone. During the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, Sarma has publicly urged BJP workers to file bulk objections using Form 7, which allows for the deletion of names from voter lists.
He has claimed that the votes of at least four lakh ‘Miya’ Muslims would be struck off during the revision exercise. Sarma reportedly issued these instructions through video conferencing with party workers.
These remarks come months ahead of the Assam Assembly elections, as Sarma, who has been Chief Minister since 2021, seeks a second term. Political observers and opposition leaders have alleged that the targeting of Bengali Muslims is part of a broader electoral strategy.
According to an India Today report, Jeherul Islam, spokesperson of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), said the BJP’s approach in Assam relies on deepening divisions within the Muslim population. “By creating divisions between indigenous and non-indigenous groups and making them compete, the BJP is attempting to derive political gains,” he said.
The statement by academics and activists situates Sarma’s recent comments within a longer pattern.
In July 2023, the Chief Minister had accused Muslim vegetable sellers of inflating prices, claiming that “Miya traders” were responsible for high vegetable rates. Ahead of the 2021 elections, he had said he did not want votes from ‘Miya’ Muslims, describing them as “communal and fundamental” and accusing them of distorting Assamese culture and language.
The signatories argue that portraying Bengali Muslims as “infiltrators” or “outsiders” is deeply ahistorical, pointing out that many have lived in Assam for generations. They allege that citizenship determination laws, policing, evictions and surveillance are being weaponised to systematically marginalise the community.
Explaining the motivation behind the petition, Pakeezeh, a law academic at the National University of Singapore and one of the authors of the statement, said the initiative was intended to identify those willing to publicly confront what she described as a deepening climate of hatred.
“The intention with that petition, when we created it, was to get a sense of who is willing to confront this issue with courage. As someone born Assamese, I think the onus is on me and others like me to take up the task of organising. Otherwise we stand for cowardice in the face of Third Reich-style fascism,” she told EastMojo.
She said speaking out has become increasingly difficult due to shrinking civic space and fear of repercussions. “Resistance therefore — especially in this current climate of hatred and Islamophobia — becomes a challenge both because Assam does not seem to have an advanced civil society, there are intense repercussions for protestors, and our right to free speech and assembly is waning at the speed of lightning. That said, there is definitely a class of academics and scholars who work on this issue and choose to remain silent. That silence is something I refuse to subscribe to.”
Placing the current situation in a broader historical context, Pakeezeh said the targeting of Bengali Muslims did not emerge overnight.
“The Assamese population, in all its diversity, has for generations been fed the rhetoric that there are relentless immigrants coming in through porous borders, and the Bengali Muslim identity (present in the state since colonial times) is conflated with immigrants. Further, this population has been dehumanised in the eyes of the Assamese to the point where this level of impunity as displayed by the CM has become commonplace. He is not the exception. He is a barometer of public opinion.”
Another signatory, researcher Angshuman Choudhury, said the image of Bengali Muslims as permanent outsiders has long been entrenched. “I think the image of the Bengali Muslim as the permanent ‘outsider’ in Assam is deeply embedded in the mainstream Assamese psyche. The Assam Movement and subsequent developments contributed to strengthening this image.”
“The BJP only picked it up and used it to take its sectarian politics into the Assamese electorate. So today, this narrative does the very important task of placating both the Assamese nationalist lobbies and the pan-Indian Hindutva audience. For the Chief Minister, this dual outreach is important in expanding his influence in both Assam and beyond. But coming from him, it also does the very alarming job of popularising and normalising anti-Bengali Muslim hate in Assam, especially among large sections of the younger generations who admire him,” he said.
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