CM Sarma warns 'Miya-Muslims' will become Assam's largest community, vows new laws

Airing caution, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday (October 10) said ‘Miya-Muslims’ (Bengali-speaking Muslims) will become the largest community in the north-eastern state in the next census, constituting nearly 40 per cent of its population, and his government was working to protect “our people”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, whose government will seek a fresh mandate in next year’s election, said two key legislations would be placed in the state Assembly in connection with the matter in the next session.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme in Dibrugarh, Sarma said, “When the next census is completed and the results come, take it from me that Miya-Muslims will be 38 per cent of the population in the state. And they will be the largest community. This is the reality of Assam now.”

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The term ‘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 the term as a gesture of defiance.

The CM, who is serving his first term, maintained that the “situation would not have come to such a pass if the work being done in the last five years had been initiated 30 years ago”.

“A battle has started now, and we will take it to the desired result,” he said.

Sarma said that steps were being taken to “protect our people and chart a secure future”.

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“In the next Assembly session, two very important legislations will be placed. I won’t say much about those now, but these will be to safeguard our ‘jati, mati, bheti’ (community, land, home),” he added.

The chief minister also said that “we have to keep the Miyas under pressure, and if that can be done for a sustained period, the situation will improve”.

Sarma had previously claimed that the indigenous communities of the state are facing ‘invasion’ from people of ‘one religion’, who are allegedly encroaching on land in different parts to alter the demography of those areas.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to Assam in September, had also claimed that the state was facing a demographic challenge due to the Congress’s backing of infiltrators for votes and settling them illegally.

Sarma further claimed that his government is working simultaneously on all fronts and the BJP will retain power in next year’s Assembly elections with a thumping majority.

“It will be a BJP government, I am 100 per cent sure. Election is not the main issue for us. Giving jobs, land pattas, etc, those are our issues,” he said.

(With Agency inputs)