Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma triggered controversy by claiming he encourages troubling “Miya Muslims” to force their exit, amid election season. The remark targets Bengali-speaking Muslims, branded illegal infiltrators, reinforcing communal narratives and polarising Assam’s political landscape ahead.
GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has sparked significant controversy by stating that he promotes troubling the “Miya Muslims” to drive them out of the state, particularly as elections approach in the northeastern region.
Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam are commonly referred to as ‘Miyas’ and are labeled as “illegal infiltrators” by the BJP, tapping into communal narratives to rally Hindu votes ahead of the elections.
Sarma remarked,
“Trouble the Miya Muslims by any means. If they face trouble, they will go from Assam. If I want to give trouble to Miya, I go at 12 am. It’s not an issue. We are directly against the Miya Muslims. We are not hiding anything; we directly say that we are against Miyas. Earlier, people feared that notices would be served against them. Now, I encourage everyone to give trouble to Miya. Yesterday, I saw that they have reached Duliajan. A tsunami will happen here, but the result will be in Pakistan,”
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The chief minister instructed BJP workers to file bulk ‘Form 7’ objections against Miyas, stating this directive was conveyed via video conferencing during the ongoing Special Revision exercise of electoral rolls.
Form 7 is utilized for raising objections to the inclusion of names on the voter list or for deleting one’s own or another’s name. The special revision of electoral rolls is currently underway in Assam. The Congress party has previously alleged that Form 7 is being submitted en masse without adequate justification, calling for intervention from the chief electoral officer.
Sarma told reporters,
“It is a known fact that there are Bangladeshi Miyas in Assam. Has anybody got notice in Thowra or Dimou? No one received any notice. If Bangladeshi Miyas do not get notice in the SR then what it will mean is that there are no foreigners in Assam,”
Meanwhile, Debabrata Saikia, the leader of the opposition in Assam, has written to the Chief Justice of India, requesting suo motu cognizance regarding the misuse of the special revision of electoral rolls.
His letter stated,
“The situation has transcended the realm of administrative irregularity and has assumed the character of a constitutional crisis, where the right to vote under Article 326 (Basis of the Universal Adult Suffrage) of the Constitution of India is being systematically undermined through executive interference, communal targeting, and misuse of statutory procedures,”
Saikia noted,
“It has come to public notice through repeated media briefings and categorical statements made by the Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, that notices under the Special Revision are being deliberately served only upon a particular community, namely the ‘Miya’ (Bengali-origin Muslim) population, to ‘keep them under pressure,’ ‘make them suffer,’ and to demonstrate ‘resistance’ in Assam. He has publicly stated that the government is ‘giving them trouble’ and that such notices, eviction drives, and actions by the border police form part of a conscious and continuing policy decision.”
Saikia explained,
“Such statements amount to an open confession that the Special Revision of electoral rolls and the use of Form-7 are being employed not for their lawful purpose, but as instruments of intimidation, harassment, and targeted disenfranchisement of a particular community. This directly undermines the independence of the Election Commission of India, politicizes the electoral process, and violates the constitutional guarantees of equality, fraternity, secularism, and non-discrimination. The present misuse of Form-7, which is meant only for genuine and limited objections, has converted a regulatory mechanism into a weapon of mass voter suppression,”
He further added,
“The public declarations of the Chief Minister that: only ‘Miyas’ are being served notices, that the object is to ‘make them suffer,’ that ‘four to five lakh Miya votes will be cut,’ and that the Government is ‘trying to steal Miya votes,’ constitute an unprecedented admission of intent to interfere with the electorate on communal lines.”
Amid this ongoing controversy, the Gauhati High Court has listed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking judicial intervention into the reported large-scale misuse of objections during Assam’s Special Revision of electoral rolls.