A group of retired civil servants and former diplomats on Friday urged the Supreme Court and the president to take cognisance of recent remarks made by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma about Bengali Muslims in the state, saying that the comments amount to a “brazen” violation of the Constitution.
In an open letter, the Constitutional Conduct Group said that the “nastiness” of the speeches made by Sarma came as a shock, adding that the Bharatiya Janata Party leader “thinks nothing of trampling upon the fundamental rights” of Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam by violating Article 14 and Article 15 of the Constitution.
Article 14 guarantees equality before the law and Article 15 prohibits discrimination against citizens on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
Over the past two weeks, Sarma has made several remarks about Bengali Muslims in the state, and said that it was his job to “make them suffer”.
On Friday, the Constitutional Conduct Group said that Sarma had labelled all Bengali Muslims in Assam as Miyas, adding that the BJP leader has accused them of being Bangladeshis who have no right to stay in Assam or in India.
“According to his [Sarma] understanding there are no Bengali Muslims in India who are Indian citizens, or legitimate residents of Assam, and all such people should be thrown out of the country,” the group said. “In a hateful exhortation, he calls upon the public to harass Bengali Muslims (Miyas, to use his term) to such a extent that they are forced to leave Assam as well as the country.”
In Assam, “Miya” is a derogatory word used to refer to undocumented immigrants and is exclusively directed at Muslims of Bengali origin. They are often accused of being undocumented migrants from Bangladesh.
Once a pejorative in Assam, from the common use of the honorific “Miya” among South Asian Muslims, the term has now been reappropriated by the community as a self-descriptor to refer to Muslims who migrated to Assam from Bengal during the colonial era.
The group of retired civil servants and diplomats said that the chief minister has also “encouraged the public to do all manner of wrongful things to trouble the Bengali Muslims in Assam, and has assured them that the Assam Police would protect them in their wrongdoing”.
On January 27, Sarma said that he himself was encouraging people to “keep giving troubles” to Miyas. “In a rickshaw, if the fare is Rs 5, give them Rs 4,” he had said. “Only if they face troubles will they leave Assam.”
On the same day, the chief minister had claimed that four lakh to five lakh Miya voters would be deleted when the special revision of the voter rolls takes place in the state, and acknowledged that the BJP government had “made arrangements” to preliminarily prevent them from voting.
The Election Commission is separately conducting a “special revision” of the voter list in the state, which is similar to the usual updates to the electoral roll. Assam is not among the 12 states and Union Territories where the poll panel is conducting the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls.
A day later, Sarma said that BJP workers had filed more than five lakh complaints against suspected foreigners during the special revision.
The Constitutional Conduct Group on Friday said that the residents of Assam were aware that all Bengali Muslims in the state were not Bangladeshis who had illegally entered the country.
“But when there is such a dog whistle from none other than the chief minister of the state, and in the hate-filled atmosphere that prevails in India, today, one can never be sure of the repercussions,” the group said.
It added: “By repeatedly making the allegation that Bengali Muslims in Assam are intruders who have stolen the jobs of the Assamese, the chief minister is planting seeds of doubt in the minds of people, seeds which may result in major riots and killings.”
The group of retired civil servants and diplomats noted that Sarma remained “undeterred” even after being criticised for his remarks, adding that he “also claims pugnaciously that he would start hundreds of cases, presumably using the state machinery, against those who have registered cases against him”.
This was a reference to Sarma on January 31 saying that he would file “at least 100 cases” against activist Harsh Mander after the activist filed a police complaint accusing the chief minister of hate speech against Assam’s Bengali Muslims.
“We are amazed that a chief minister can say all these things without being reined in by his party,” the Constitutional Conduct Group said.
But the statement added that the group was not surprised that the Union government had neither taken note of the incidents to disturb public peace and order, nor acted to dissuade Sarma from making provocative remarks.
“We, therefore, urge the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of his hate speeches as they directly violate, and are in contempt of, the court’s own orders in the past,” it said.
The Constitutional Conduct Group also urged President Droupadi Murmu to “intervene in the matter before it is too late”, and advise Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sarma “to abide by their oaths to the Constitution and the dignity of their respective office”.
The signatories to the letter include Punjab’s former director general of police Julio Ribeiro, Delhi’s former Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and former Indian ambassador Gautam Mukhopadhaya.
Also read: Himanta Sarma’s remarks about ‘Miyas’ make a mockery of the Constitution
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