Mumbai : A day after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s remarks on Miya Muslims created a storm, the state’s Opposition attacked the BJP leader, saying he had lost the moral right to occupy the CM’s seat. The term Miya is used to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam. Earlier used as a slur, it has now been appropriated by the community.
The BJP in Assam and Himanta Biswa Sarma have been making a clear distinction between the Muslim communities of the state. Himanta has been attacking the Bengali-speaking ‘Miya’ community, but wooing the indigenous Muslims of Assam. Give a hard time to the Miyas in whichever way possible. Even small acts, such as paying less fare in a rickshaw, if they ask Rs 5, give Rs 4. They will leave Assam only if they face hardships,” Himanta said earlier this week.
Himanta faulted the earlier Congress governments for the problem of illegal migration to the state from Bangladesh. “Let Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” he said. The remarks of the chief minister created a massive uproar as video clips went viral. “This is a great misfortune. I would say to him with folded hands, ‘Himanta Biswa Sarma, please take back your words, otherwise this time the Miya people of Assam will sink your boat’,” said Badruddin Ajmal.
The AIUDF chief went on to predict a BJP rout in the upcoming election in Assam. “If Himanta Biswa Sarma contests the election this time, the BJP will lose. Note it down and remember this.”
“By telling people to pay a Miya rickshaw-puller Rs 4 instead of Rs 5, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma did not insult any community. He insulted the poor and the distressed who pull rickshaws for survival,” said Jeherul Islam, spokesperson of Congress in Assam.
Jeherul said Himanta was asking society to “commit injustice against the poorest of the poor”. He said targeting daily-wage workers and normalising exploitation of their labour was “deeply condemnable and morally indefensible”. Sherman Ali Ahmed, Baghbar MLA since 2011, urged the Miya Muslim community to look beyond mere politics and focus on education, trade and character-building of its people.
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