Assam: Complaints against CM Himanta Biswa Sarma over ‘Miya’ remarks
Trinamool Congress also wrote to the Chief Justice of India seeking judicial action against Sarma.
GUWAHATI- The CPI(M), and an Independent Rajya Sabha MP on Monday lodged police complaints against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, alleging that the BJP leader has made a “hate speech” against the ‘Miya’ community on the previous days. The state unit of Trinamool Congress also wrote to the Chief Justice of India seeking judicial action against Sarma.
Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Bhuyan has lodged an FIR against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his remarks against Bangladeshi-origin Muslim settlers (‘Miya’) in the state.
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Bhuyan filed a police complaint against Sarma at the Dispur police station, claiming that the statements made by Sarma amounted to hate speech against a particular community.
Mentioning a recent Supreme Court direction for cases against hate speeches, Bhuyan sought registration of a case against Sarma under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and “investigate the matter and to take action”.
The CPI(M) also lodged a complaint at the Latasil police station in the city with similar charges against Sarma of “making hate speeches on communal lines with an ulterior motive to create division and tensions between two religious communities”.
The party, in the complaint signed by its state secretary Suprakash Talukdar and central committee member Ishfaqur Rahman, has brought charges of “making hate speeches” against Ajmal.
The Trinamool Congress has written to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud seeking judicial action against Sarma also for the same remark against the ‘Miya’ community, a term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims of Assam.
Assam TMC president Ripun Bora, in a letter to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court D Y Chandrachud, prayed for action against Sarma for his ‘hate speech’ made against the ‘Miya’ community and initiation of suo motu contempt proceeding against the Assam government.
He maintained that Sarma’s statement could “not only provoke a section of people but also incite communal hatred”.
Bora, a former Rajya Sabha MP, contended that the government of Assam should have taken steps for registering a case in this connection.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, while responding to reporters’ questions last week on the high price of vegetables in Guwahati, had said, “Vegetables are not priced so high in villages. Here the Miya vendors charge us more. Had it been Assamese vendors selling vegetables, they wouldn’t have fleeced their own people.” .
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“I will clear all the footpaths of Guwahati and I urge our Assamese people to come forward and start their businesses,” he added.
While the police received both complaints, the force is yet to register an FIR against the chief minister, sources said.
