Why Does Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma See 'Jihad' in Everything?

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has made over 18 communal remarks and speeches in one year and these are only the recorded ones.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

If there's one chief minister who rakes up 'Jihad' bogey every few months, it is Assam's Himanta Biswa Sarma of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Ever since he became the chief minister of the state in 2021, he has come to be known for his controversial speeches and remarks targeting Muslims.

In the past one year alone, The Quint could find over 18 such recorded speeches and remarks, emphasis on 'recorded.' Of late, he has repeatedly targeted Miya Muslims who have become the scapegoat for a number of things — from floods, to high vegetable prices and even presence of urea in fish.

These are all assertions made by the Assam CM. Ever since his switch from Congress to BJP in 2015, his rhetoric has become shriller with more dog-whistling narrative.

The Quint breaks down his speeches to understand the patterns, the claims he often makes and how his words too, have implications on the ground.

Maligning Miya Muslims

Biswa Sarma has been creating a bogey that Miya Muslims will take over Assam — One of his latest diatribe was in the Assam legislative Assembly some days ago.

Miya Muslims are of Bengali origin who are often alleged to be 'illegal immigrants.' These claims are disputed as many Miya Muslims have been staying in Assam since generations.

On 27 August this year, Sarma made it clear when he said that "he will take sides, this is his ideology” while referring to Miya Muslims. This also cannot be seen in isolation from what is happening on the ground and how it translates into reality.

There have been reports of Assamese ethno-nationalist groups having launched a campaign targeting Bengali-speaking Muslims, going door-to-door with threats and demanding them to vacate their homes within a week.

But Assam CM's and his claims of 'demographic invasion' by Miya Muslims have so far, not been backed by any substance or evidence.

How ‘Flood Jihad’ Narrative Came into Being

This year, much like every year, Assam faces a serious flood situation again. At a time when the Assam government is facing criticism for flood management, naturally, Biswa Sarma was quick to target a private university located on the outskirts of Guwahati.

He claimed that the university of science and technology, which is owned by a Bengali-origin Muslim, is waging "flood jihad."

His recent spat with USTM, a private university in the neighbouring Meghalaya drew a lot of attention recently. He alleged that USTM's campus was built by cutting trees and destroying hills in the Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya, and their action is what brought flash floods in Assam.

Additionally, when a reporter asked Biswa Sarma a question regarding hills allegedly being cut in CM's Jalukbari constituency, Sarma asked the reporter his name.

When the reporter introduced himself as Shah Alam, he said, "You people, Shah Alam and USTM's Mahbubul Hoque..the way you all have connected things, will we even survive? I would like to ask Shah Alam if we'll even survive in Assam for long?"

USTM is the University Biswa Sarma targeted and blamed for brining floods into Assam.

(Photo: USTM's website)

He Came, He Saw… He Called It ‘Jihad’

Biswa Sarma's allegations of Bengali Muslims reportedly carrying out 'Love Jihad,' 'Land Jihad' and 'fertiliser Jihad' against indigenous Assamese. These calls have only become more conspicuous and louder with time, before and even after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In early August, he said that his government would soon introduce a law against “love jihad” with a life term punishment. He claimed:

"People put Hindu names on Facebook, lure a girl and after marriage the girl discovers that the boy is not the same boy whom she married. Now I have told everyone, on Facebook, if you make a duplicate account, I will break your legs.”

His words do have real time consequences, The Quint recently reported on how a Muslim boy met with a Hindu friend on Independence Day and was beaten, accused of ‘love jihad’ and has been arrested under POCSO charges.  

The Assam CM has said that he is planning to enact another law against what he calls “land jihad" stating that sale of land between Hindus and Muslims buying will now have to be approved by the government.

Besides 'fertiliser Jihad' there was also ‘Vote Jihad.’

In the same month this year, the CM alleged ‘communal voting patterns’ in the country, referring to it as ‘Vote Jihad.’

“One thing this election proved is that Hindus do not indulge in communalism. If someone commits communalism in Assam, one community does it, one religion does it, and no other commits communalism this election is proof of that," said Biswa Sarma addressing a crowd in June this year.

In reality, there is no proof for this. Moreover, if a community is being targeted by a top leader of one party in this manner, is it surprising that they would consolidate behind the Opposition?

The Obsession With Madrasas, Muslim Population

Apart from the various kinds of ‘Jihad’ that he talks about, he has a few other pet targets: madrasas, masjid, migrants and marriage

Between 10-19 May 2024, Biswa Sarma is seen to have made at least 5 communal speeches and remarks across West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Right before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls too, he said this: “An official came to me with a file asking for my signature. It was about madrasa teachers’ salaries. I asked, what is this madrasa? The one where mullahs are made (jo mullah banaata hai). I said, our money, you will give to the shop that produces mullahs, how can this be? Shut this shop from today."

Another favorite of his is wrongly stating Muslim community's share of population in Assam, while also peddling a distorted narrative of widespread and vast infiltration of ‘illegal’ Bangladeshi Muslims.

Sarma has claimed that in 1951, Muslims were 12% of the population. But government records have shown that it was at 24.68% in 1951.

He also claimed that the influx from the neighbouring nation is why Muslims have grown from being 24.68% of the state’s population. There is no empirical data available to prove that scale of illegal migration as of yet.

Even though the Election Commission of India paid no heed against his communal speeches violating Model Code of Conduct before elections, there have been multiple reports of complaints being filed against Sarma’s speeches.

From senior Assam Congress MLA Debabrata Saikia who in September 2023 filed an FIR against Sarma for alleged ‘hate’ speech, inciting violence against Sonia Gandhi and her family to Congress-led United Opposition Forum, Assam (UOFA) also filing an FIR.

Recently, even Gaurav Gogoi, the Deputy Leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha wrote that whenever Biswa Sarma is on the back foot, he tries to divide the society.

Gaurav Gogoi also called out Biswa Sarma's communal remarks. 

(Photo: X/Twitter)

Some questions that we want to ask are:

• What happened to the cases against Himanta Biswa Sarma?

• Why did the ECI not take any proper action against him?

• Last but not the least: Are these kind of speeches becoming of someone holding the office of chief minister?