GUWAHATI: Amid a campaign against Bengali-speaking Muslims in eastern Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma advised the indigenous communities to oppose encroachment of government lands peacefully and within the law.
He, however, warned of serious consequences if there is any attempt to harm the Assamese community.
The Chief Minister’s insistence on democratic protests is seen as a bid to defuse tension in districts such as Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Sivasagar, and Tinsukia, where a ‘Miya Kheda Andolan’ (movement to expel the Miyas, a pejorative term for Muslims with roots in present-day Bangladesh) has sparked localised unrest.
Migrant Muslims asked to vacate parts of eastern Assam
In Sivasagar, for instance, confrontation between the Assamese Muslims and non-Muslim indigenous groups has been reported following a house-to-house search by the latter to check the documents of ‘Miya’ workers staying on rent. Some Assamese Muslims, a community wooed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, have been accused of sheltering the Bengali-speaking Muslims because of religious affiliation.
