Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma hits back at Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind for demanding his removal, says “Jamiat leaders should also be sent to Bangladesh”
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has brushed aside calls for his removal by the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, saying he does not care about what the Muslim organisation wants. Sarma made the comments on Saturday, 23rd August, while reacting to the group’s demand that he be removed and booked under hate speech laws following the recent eviction drives in the state.
“If I get Jamiat President Mahmood Madani, I will send him to Bangladesh,” Sarma told the media on the sidelines of a programme in Morigaon.
He went on to show his “burha anguli” (thumb) and added, “I’m showing the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind a thumbs-down officially, right now. In this thumb, there is an Assamese blood, strength and courage.”
CM slams Congress and Jamiat
The Chief Minister said that the Congress had become the “B team” of the Jamiat and was siding with them against the people of Assam.
“If anyone attacks the Assam Chief Minister, whether from Congress or any other party, we will protest. Because it is the people of Assam who elected me, not the Jamiat,” he said.
Sarma also criticised the Congress leadership in the state, calling them “sardars of unknown people” and not representatives of indigenous Assamese communities. He pointed to earlier protests by Congress leaders against a new semiconductor plant in Jagiroad, saying this exposed their misplaced priorities.
He further claimed that Jamiat President Mahmood Madani had, during the Congress regime, blocked appointments of teachers who had cleared the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) by putting pressure on officials. He said, “This Madani, at one point, when I was the education minister, he didn’t allow TET teachers to be appointed.”
“We Are Protecting Assam’s Land”
Defending the eviction drives that have affected thousands, Sarma said the action was necessary to protect Assam’s land for indigenous people.
“Indigenous people have the right to their lands, and those who need to be evicted are being removed. We are clearing encroachments from forest areas, grazing reserves, prayer houses, and monasteries. This land belongs to Assam and cannot be taken away,” Sarma stated.
The CM revealed that since his government took office in May 2021, more than 160 square km of land has been cleared of encroachments, affecting around 50,000 people, most of them Bengali-speaking Muslims.
“These people wanted to occupy Assam with the help of the Congress. Now they are frustrated because we have stopped Aadhaar cards for people above 18 who don’t deserve it and directly push back identified Bangladeshis without sending them to courts or detention centres,” he added.
What triggered the row
Sarma’s sharp response came after the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind passed a strong resolution against him on Thursday, 21st August.
In the meeting of its Working Committee chaired by Mahmood Madani, the Muslim organisation accused Sarma of running eviction drives in an “inhuman and discriminatory manner.”
The Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind said, “…The Committee emphasised that the current actions in Assam are being carried out in an inhumane and discriminatory manner, motivated by religious prejudice and hate-filled rhetoric.”
The Jamiat demanded that the Assam Chief Minister be immediately removed from office and that criminal proceedings under hate speech laws be initiated against him. They also appealed to India’s constitutional authorities, including the President of India and the Chief Justice of India, to step in.
Jamiat’s concerns over evictions
The Jamiat claimed that more than 50,000 families, mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims, had been rendered homeless due to the state’s eviction drives. They argued that while the organisation has always opposed illegal encroachments on government land, the current operations were being carried out in a discriminatory way.
Their view was that the evictions did not conform to Supreme Court rules, and that the government should rather rehouse and rehabilitate those displaced, particularly the Miya Muslim community.
The eviction problem is now one of Assam’s hottest political controversies. Sarma maintains that the drives are needed to save land owned by indigenous people and religious institutions such as Satras (Vaishnavite monasteries) and Namghars (community prayer halls). Critics, though, say that the actions unfairly target poor Muslims who live in flood-prone riverine belts, many of whom say their families inhabited these areas decades ago after being driven out of land lost to erosion from the Brahmaputra River.
“I don’t even compare the Jamiat to my thumb”: Sarma
Despite the uproar, Sarma made it clear that he is not backing down. “I don’t even compare the Jamiat to my thumb. They can say what they want, but it is the people of Assam who will decide,” he stated.
The CM has time and again presented the eviction and Aadhaar policies as part of an overall initiative to protect the rights of original Assamese and ward off illegal migration from Bangladesh. His position has won him widespread support from nationalist groups within Assam but also irate criticism from Muslim organisations and human rights activists.
Jamiat’s wider resolutions
Additionally, the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind passed a resolution on Palestine and dubbed Israel’s counter-offensive as ‘genocide’ in Gaza.
“The Committee called upon the Arab world and the international community to unite against Israeli aggression, block its expansionist agenda, safeguard sacred sites, and compel Israel to open humanitarian corridors, allow unrestricted aid delivery, and implement an immediate ceasefire,” it brazened out.
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