AMID TENSION in Assam’s Sivasagar district, with some organisations targeting Bengali-Muslims and warning that “Bangladeshis” would have to leave the district within a week, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma declared in the Assembly on Tuesday that he “will take sides” and “will not let Miya Muslims take over all of Assam”. Sarma made the remarks while responding to adjournment motions moved by four Opposition MLAs over the law and order situation in Assam, particularly over recent incidents of crime against women and the developments in Sivasagar. Many parts of Assam have been tense since the alleged gangrape of a 14-year-old girl in Nagaon district on August 22. This incident, in which the accused are Bengali-Muslims, and the commentary on it — it has been called an “attack on the indigenous” by Sarma and many of his ministers — has inflamed tension in different parts of the state. In Sivasagar in particular, some local organisations issued calls for “all Bangladeshis to leave Upper Assam within seven days”, pointing to the Bengali-Muslim identity of the accused. Some groups have even been going to the houses of Bengali-Muslims, saying they were “informing suspected Bangledeshis” to leave the district by the end of the week. Raising the issue in the House on Tuesday, AIUDF MLA from Jania, Rafiqul Islam, said: “The thousands of people who are there in Upper Assam - ordinary businessmen or people doing small jobs - are all people of Assam. They are bona fide Indian citizens… These Indian citizens are being given ultimatums… their landlords are being threatened.” “It is the elected government’s prime duty that landless people, those who have lost their homes to river erosion, their settlement should be organised. Today, if this would have been done, these people would not have to go from one district to another in their own state,” Islam said, referring to a frequent cause of migration of Bengali-Muslims who live in riverine areas. “If we cannot provide security for people to go from one district to another, it will be very difficult. Even our people from Upper Assam work in Dhubri and elsewhere,” said Debabrata Saikia, Leader of the Opposition and Congress MLA from Nazira in Sivasagar district, who also moved an adjournment motion. CPI(M) MLA from Sorbhog, Manoranjan Talukdar, and Raijor Dol MLA from Sivasagar, Akhil Gogoi, also moved adjournment motions on related issues. Responding to these, Sarma said the current situation in Sivasagar began with protests against the Marwari community earlier this month by the same local organisations, at the end of which members of the Marwari community knelt in a “public apology” for the alleged assault of a teenager in the district in which the accused were local Marwari businessmen. He claimed that “minority people from Barpeta and Nagaon” (Muslim majority districts in lower and central Assam) added “fuel” with posts on social media against the Marwari community. Saying “we should not jump” when a community is “vulnerable”, Sarma said: “Many people can be vulnerable. Assam is a multi-ethnic society.” When Opposition members protested against his remarks and accused him of being partisan, he said: “I will take (sides), this is my ideology. Amid protests, he said Islam and Saikia had started a “big fire” in the Assembly. As Opposition MLAs continued to protest against his remarks, the CM said: “I have said it, what will you all do to me now. I will take sides, what will you do? I will take sides. Say what you will.” When Opposition MLAs accused him of “divide and rule”, Sarma responded: “Yes okay, divide and rule.” He then went on to say: “Today you all have said a big thing. Knowingly or unknowingly, the Jania MLA and the Leader of Opposition have said something big… What did you say? People will definitely go from Lower Assam to Upper Assam. Tell me, why will they go? That means all of you insist on taking all of Assam…You Miya Muslim people will insist on taking all of Assam. We will not let you take.” Lower Assam refers to districts in Western Assam, which includes districts like Barpeta, Dhubri, South Salmara-Mankachar and Nalbari which have a large concentration of Bengali-Muslim population. Upper Assam refers to Eastern Assam districts of Charaideo, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Majuli Sivasagar and Tinsukia, which are home to mostly ethnic Assamese communities and considered a heartland of Assamese identity. As ruling and Opposition MLAs gathered in the well of the House, Speaker Biswajit Daimary adjourned proceedings for 10 minutes. When the House reconvened, Sarma continued to defend his remarks. “At this sensitive time… Where Assamese people don’t want it, don’t go forcefully. If you go against the will of the people of Upper Assam, there will not be any security given,” he said. The adjournment motions were not accepted. Speaking to The Indian Express later, Islam said he feared that Sarma's comments would lead to further deterioration of the situation in Sivasagar. “Our adjournment motion was on the matter of providing security to everyone. But it is very unfortunate that when it was brought up in the Assembly, in his reply, he was seen to be in favour of one community against another. He is doing politics of division… Your oath was to ensure security for everyone, development for everyone, to look at everyone through an equal lens, but you are saying wrong things. That too in a sacred place like the Assembly. You are going against the Constitution and taking someone’s side, speaking against someone else… For these people who are being threatened, the CM should have given a positive reply so that the mischievous elements spreading poison there correct themselves. But it is unfortunate that the CM’s statements and body language have caused us to be more worried… With these words, the wrongdoers there will gain more fuel,” he said. Saikia accused the CM of trying to create a “Manipur-like situation” in the state. “What he said was unconstitutional and he should not have said it. I hope that the Union Home Ministry takes note of this and sees how a Manipur-like situation can be created. Local organisations are being blamed (for the incidents in Sivasagar) but I think they are being charged up by political interests,” he said.
