Goalpara (Assam): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday, February 1, said “Miyas” will face “trouble” as long as he remains in power, asserting that they should face persistent problems so that they leave the state.
He maintained that as Miyas are ‘illegal Bangladeshis’, they should not be allowed to work in the state.
“If I remain in Assam, they will face troubles,” Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of a government programme here.
“They can’t live in peace here. If we create troubles for them, only then they will leave,” he added.
‘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.
Referring to his earlier remark that if a Miya rickshaw-puller charges Rs 5 as fare, he should be paid Rs 4, Sarma said, “I had, in fact, spoken for their benefit. If one goes by law, they cannot work here. Citizens of a country can work in their own land. How can those from Bangladesh work?”
“If they cannot accept me speaking for their benefit, then I have to only work against them,” Sarma added.
The Chief Minister has been claiming that ‘Bangladeshi Muslims’ will form 40 per cent of the state’s population in the next Census, and accused the Miyas of encroaching ‘satras’ (Vaishnavite seats of learning), land, and committing ‘love jihad’ and ‘fertiliser jihad’.
