Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has lost the right to remain in his office. Each passing day he remains in this position, he puts the Muslims of Assam, especially the Miyan Muslims, in greater danger than ever before. His hatred and violence towards Muslims is evident in his statements and his decisions.
Many other leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) express this hatred and violence as dog whistles to appear civilised. But in the last 10 years, the number of such leaders in the BJP, who do not hide their hatred against Muslims and Christians and have no hesitation in being open about it, has increased.
This year, the biggest leader of the BJP, Narendra Modi, kept giving shameless anti-Muslim speeches for nearly two months taking advantage of the election campaign. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) anayalised his speeches and reported that Modi had made anti-Muslim remarks in 110 of his 173 speeches while the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in place. Newspapers kept publishing it, TV channels kept broadcasting it. But no one said that this is impermissible. It is not only uncivilised but also dangerous because every statement of his deepens the suspicion and hatred in the minds of Hindus towards Muslims. It leads to violence against them. It has been noted that such hate speeches, especially from people occupying responsible positions have real consequences. It was not a coincidence that after the latest round of venom spewing by Modi, there has been a spurt in violence against Muslims.
It is also a fact that in the last 10 years, there has been a growing number of Hindus who are not connected to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who are quite young, but who relish insulting, humiliating, attacking and even killing and lynching Muslims. The hate propaganda that Modi, his ministers and the BJP and the RSS leaders are engaged in day and night is definitely responsible for this. This is not something a person holding a constitutional post can do. It is a crime.
Sarma is competing with Modi and the other BJP leaders in arousing anti-Muslim sentiments in Hindus. Some people say that since he is not initiated into the RSS and has joined the BJP after a long stint in the Congress party, he is trying to prove that he can attack Muslims in the most disgusting and dangerous way than even the hardened members of the RSS and BJP. This is the easiest, tried and tested way to move up the ladder in the BJP. The rise of Modi and Adityanath is proof of this. Whatever be the case, the Muslims of Assam cannot pay the price for Sarma’s ‘career’.
Today, even Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), which are allies of the BJP and constituents of the federal government, are forced to criticise chief minister Sarma. They have lambasted the decision of Sarma’s government to cancel the two-hour break for Friday prayers in the legislative assembly.
Sarma says that this practice was colonial and hence it was abolished. After this, hours will be saved and more work can be done. But everyone knows the intention behind the decision. This is yet another step by Sarma to prove that he is purifying all public spaces of Muslim practices. Everyone realises it and that is why parties supporting the BJP felt compelled to condemn it without losing time. They said that this is against the secular nature of India and the spirit of the constitution.
One can say that these parties are concerned about the sentiments of their Muslim voters, hence this criticism. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Every political party should take care of the sentiments of all sections of the society. That Sarma is not concerned about the sentiments of Muslims cannot be a matter of pride. He openly expresses his disdain for Muslims. Everyone remembers him saying that he does not want the votes of Miya Muslims.
Also read: ‘Beaten, Humiliated’: As 15 Muslim Men Are Attacked, Opposition Connects Crime to CM Himanta
In a democracy, political parties would like all sections of the society to vote for them. The majority they want to mobilise should reflect the composition of the society. Not so with Sarma. He openly says that Muslims are not welcome in his majority.
All the Opposition parties in Assam have filed a police report against Sarma because he said in the assembly that he will take sides, he will not let the Miya Muslims take over Assam. It was a not a hidden threat to the Muslims. Even before this, he has been continuously saying that the demography of Assam is getting distorted due to the increasing numbers of Muslims. How is this number increasing? According to him, by infiltration and Muslims producing children much more than Hindus. All lies and half truth but Sarma does not care. A whole book can be made on Sarma’s anti-Muslim statements and actions of the last few years.
Sarma’s hate-filled statements are becoming increasingly audacious every day. A few days ago, he attacked the University of Science and Technology (USTM) Meghalaya, built on a hill on the border of Assam which lies in the state Meghalaya. He alleged that it has caused floods in Assam because the hill has been cut to construct the university. He called it flood jihad. Some people will say that this may be a legitimate concern of the chief minister. But everyone in Assam knows that Sarma attacked the university because the proprietor and chancellor of this university is a Bengali-speaking Assamese Muslim, Mahbubul Hoque.
Sarma himself wanted to make it clear that he was against the university because of its ‘Muslimness’. To make it stark he said that there were domes like mosques at the entrance of the university. Then he said that he would ensure that those who study in this university do not get jobs easily in Assam. All this is ridiculous but for Sarma it is natural and logical. Floods happen because of a Muslim university and vegetables are expensive because of Muslim vegetable vendors. All this from the mouth of the chief minister of Assam.
Muslim houses are being demolished regularly in Assam. Sarma has been justifying it by calling them outsiders and encroachers. He said that he will take their land and give it to the indigenous people. Some three years ago, while demolishing a Muslim settlement in Darang, the police resorted to extreme violence. Its photographer killed Moinul Haque by jumping on his chest after he was injured by a police bullet. The chief minister refused to condemn this incident and justified it by calling it a revenge for the atrocities committed earlier on the local Assamese people. Later a court ordered the police to file an FIR against Sarma. We do not know what happened after that.
After three years, the Opposition is trying for another FIR. The reason for this is that Sarma has violated not the dignity of his post but the constitutional oath under which he cannot be partisan towards any section of the society. But he says that he’ll be partisan and nothing can be done about it.
Where is Sarma getting his strength from? It is true that whatever he is doing, every BJP leader is doing the same. However, the reason for Sarma’s impudence lies in the support he receives from the articulate sections of Assam’s Hindu society. Assam’s media is brazenly anti-Muslim, Assam’s educated class also supports Sarma. It can be said that you may still find some criticism of Adityanath or Modi in the Hindi media, but to expect disapproval of his anti-Muslim stance from the Assamese media is asking for the impossible.
What we see before us is a chief minister himself inciting violence in Assam. The Opposition is right when it says that the brutal attack on Muslim labourers in Sivasagar could not have happened without the assurance from Sarma that he would patronise them. His brazen anti Muslims statements are there to prove this charge. It is futile to expect an anti-Muslim Modi to discipline him. If the courts do not understand the seriousness of the situation and do not take any action against the chief minister of Assam, then we should accept that the constitution in India has been turned into a cruel joke for the Muslims.
Apoorvanand teaches Hindi at Delhi University.
