Only ‘Miyas’ are being evicted in Assam: CM Himanta

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asserted that only ‘Miyas’ (Bengali-speaking Muslims) are being evicted in the state.

He accused the opposition parties of concentrating on appeasing the Miyas, stating with sarcasm that the Congress state headquarters has been ‘swamping’ with people of the community.

“Only Miyas are evicted in Assam. How can Assamese people be evicted?” Sarma told reporters here, dismissing purported reports that anti-encroachment drives will be undertaken in the hills surrounding Guwahati.

‘Miya’ is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and the non-Bengali-speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance.

Sarma maintained that it was the media which was spreading rumours of a possible eviction drive in the Guwahati hills.

“Till the election, when not a single eviction will happen, then people residing in the hills will understand that it was the media which gave them tension,” he claimed.

Elections for the 126-member state Assembly are due in the first half of this year, in which the BJP-led coalition will seek a third straight term.

“The BJP has been in power in the state for 10 years now. Where has eviction been carried out in Guwahati hills?” Sarma asserted, adding that the government was actually working on providing land rights to the people residing on the hills without paying any premium.

He, however, maintained that eviction notice will be given to any Miya residing in the hills, but not to any Assamese people.

Accusing the Congress of appeasing only the Bengali-speaking Muslims, Sarma said, “The Congress has said that it has received 750 applications from prospective candidates seeking party ticket. But what they didn’t say is that 600 of these applicants are Miyas. Only about 120-130 applicants are Hindus.”

“There has been a ‘Miya ujan’ in Rajib Bhawan (swamping of the state Congress headquarters by Miyas),” he added.

“The Congress party has become a threat to our religion, culture, and the more convincingly we defeat them, the more we can save our state and ‘jati’ (community),” the chief minister claimed.

He also maintained that the opposition parties will come together for the Assembly elections “for the sake of the Miyas”.

Sarma also affirmed that the details of state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi’s alleged Pakistan links will be made public very soon.

“I want to reveal it by January 31. But since there is the Union Budget on February 1, there might be a delay by a day or two,” he added.

The Assam CM and the BJP have been attacking Lok Sabha MP Gogoi over his wife’s alleged connection with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.

The state government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe a case of alleged interference of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who was claimed to have links with Gogoi’s British wife Elizabeth Colburn, in India’s internal affairs.

The SIT had submitted its report to Sarma, who also holds the Home portfolio, on September 10, the date which was initially set by the chief minister for providing evidence to back his accusations against Gogoi.