Sravasti Dasgupta 
New Delhi: The INDIA bloc on Saturday (November 2) lodged a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer, Jharkhand against Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma demanding immediate action for “divisive and inflammatory” speeches given in the poll-bound state.
The memorandum by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and the CPI(ML) states the use of “extremely divisive and hateful words” by Sarma, targeting Muslims in his speech on November 1 at Sarath, Jharkhand.
Sarma is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s co-incharge for the Jharkhand assembly elections.
“Woh log ek hi jageh par vote daalte hai lekin humara Hindu aadha vote idhar daalega aadha udhar (Those people vote in one place only but we Hindus will give half a vote here, the other half somewhere else)”, and “ye Sarkar ghuspaithiya ko bulataa hai kyuki vishesh samudaay unko vote deta hai (this government invites infiltrators because a particular community votes for them),” are clear examples of venomous language being used by him to create civil warlike situation and incite violence in the ensuing assembly election,” the letter states.
‘Hate speech by Sarma example of divisive politics promoted by his party’
The memorandum states that the “hate speech” given by Sarma is “an example of the divisive politics being promoted by him and his party.”
The letter states that Sarma has sought to polarise the electorate through his speeches in which he has stated, “Hindu ko aur Adivasi samaj ko nirnay lena hai ki ghuspaithiyo ko laat marker bhagana hai”, that “clearly establish that by stoking the flames of hatred and resentment” the Assam chief minister seeks to consolidate power for his own agenda.
“He has knowingly colouring all the people of a particular religious minority in one shade and portraying all of them to be infiltrators so as to exploit existing social divisions and exacerbate them for political gain and create communal tension and break the social fabric of the state of Jharkhand for electoral gains.”
Citing Sarma’s words where he stated, “ye Sarkar hi Alamgir Alam aur Irfan Ansari jaise logon ka hai (this government is of Alamgir Alam and Irfan Ansari),” and “JMM sirf ghuspaithiyo ki Sarkar hai (JMM is only the government of infiltrators),” the memorandum said that he is trying to create a “climate of fear and distrust amongst the minorities and fostering a climate of intolerance and violence” in the state.
The three parties have demanded immediate strict action against Sarma and said that if no action is taken in 24 hours, they will move appropriate legal forums for legal remedies.
‘Protecting Hindus is a positive thing’
Following the complaint against him, Sarma said that speaking against infiltrators is not inciting hatred.
“Why complain against me? What am I saying? Why they are hurt when I am speaking against the infiltrators? I am speaking against infiltrators. Speaking against infiltrators is inciting? Where is it written, in which law, that it is wrong to speak against infiltrators? Does this mean we open our doors to infiltrators?” he told to reporters.
“Talking about Hindus does not mean targeting Muslims,” he added.
“I did not use the word Muslims. To protect Hindus, India is a Hindu civilisation. Protecting Hindus is a positive thing. This is a country of all religions but for 5,000 years Hindus have been here.”