THE situation in Assam has steadily deteriorated due to growing tensions between communities and certain incidents being used to divide people on communal and chauvinistic lines. The chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, and the BJP-led government are solely responsible for the current state of affairs.
Himanta Biswa Sarma has crossed all limits in his Muslim baiting campaign and his divisive rhetoric of ‘indigenous versus outsiders’. Not a day passes without Sarma making some wild allegations against people belonging to the religious minority community whom he calls as ‘outsiders’.
His deliberate resort to divisive politics and incendiary speeches have incited sections of the people to create an atmosphere of violence and targeting of minorities. This is evident in the way two cases of sexual assault were handled. The assault of a seventeen year-old girl by two persons belonging to the Marwari business community in Sivasagar town flared up with certain outfits issuing a threat against ‘outsiders’. Instead of demanding firm action against the culprits involved, the entire Marwari community was blamed for this crime. It turned into a major protest against non-Assamese businessmen in upper Assam and ended with representatives of the community being forced to kneel and apologise in Sivasagar town in the presence of a state cabinet minister and the superintendent of police.
Another more serious incident that took place was of the gang rape of a fourteen year-old minor girl by three alleged Muslim youths in Nagaon district. The outrage against the incident was turned against Muslims of East Bengal origin who are derogatorily termed as ‘Miyas’. Some organisations backed by RSS and BJP issued threats and intimidation to ‘Miyas’ asking them to leave upper Assam. After an incident of construction workers of the ‘Miya’ community being mercilessly beaten up, thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims had to flee from upper Assam districts.
The chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, stated in the assembly that he would take sides and would not let ‘Miya’ Muslims “take over Assam”. The chief minister Sarma has gone into a full-scale Muslim baiting campaign in order to cover-up the failure of his government on all fronts. It has miserably failed to protect women in the state with horrific incidents of rape and violence steadily mounting. The demand for granting ST status to six backward communities remains unresolved. The demand for preservation and distribution of land to landless people residing in Assam for decades since March 1971 is totally neglected. The government has done precious little to address the alarming problems of floods and erosion; the figures of unemployment are steadily rising.
It is in this background that Sarma and the BJP government have launched a brazen communal campaign. Although the spate of crimes, including the crimes against women, were committed by people belonging to almost all communities, only the Muslims are being dubbed as criminals. Even the term ‘flood jihad’ was coined by Himanta Sarma to cover-up the problems of artificial flooding in the capital city of Guwahati.
Himanta Sarma has transgressed all constitutional norms while holding the constitutional position of chief minister. He has brazenly violated the oath of office he had taken as chief minister – “That I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law without fear of favour, affection or ill-will”. The chief minister’s utterances, both outside and inside the assembly, have been in violation of this oath of office. He has set a disgraceful record by trampling upon political and constitutional morality.
That is why eighteen opposition parties have submitted a memorandum to the president of India on August 29, through the office of the Assam governor, asking her to dismiss chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for promoting communal hatred and violation of constitutional norms.
If there is a fit case, to act against a chief minister for gross violation of the constitution and the oath of office he has taken, this is such a case.
(September 4, 2024)
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