A total of 18 Opposition parties in Assam filed a police complaint against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over his Miya Muslims comment. The Congress has charged Sarma himself and led a coalition to stoke the communal tensions.
Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah said: “There are 18 Opposition parties in Assam that have lodged a complaint of rioting against the Chief Minister with the police. Since the Lok Sabha poll results, he has been trying to provoke riots and has made objectionable statements even in the assembly. A complaint will also be lodged with the President. ”
Sarma’s statement was made during the assembly discussion over the rape of the minor girl in Nagaon, besides other law and order situations. There were also questions or alleged persecution undertaken of Bengali-speaking Muslims from Lower Assam in the Sivasagar district.
Whenever Sarma was accused of bias, his reply was, “I will take sides. What can you do about it?” This provoked AIUDF MLA Rafikul Islam, who appealed to the rights of Lower Assam to access Upper Assam and cited certain organizations that instructed them to pack and leave.
To counter the criticism, Sarma stuck to the defense that he only echoed the words of the former Governor, SK Sinha. “Since I have just repeated the same words said by the late Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi, who was the first Chief Minister of Assam, and ex-Chief Minister Bishnuram Medhi and used the self-same exact words and have not added or altered anything, if they want to lodge an FIR they should do it with everyone,” he said regretfully.
