Petitioners seeking action against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the Gauhati High Court on Tuesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party leader had continued to make “religiously provocative, incendiary and needless comments” even after notices were issued to him, reported Live Law.
Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, said that Sarma’s “entire thought process is reserved for a minority only”.
The High Court granted four more weeks to the Assam government and the BJP leader to respond to the petitions seeking action against him for hate speech.
On his part, Singhvi said that “a constitutional functionary is supposed to maintain peace and balance”, reported Live Law.
“In his eyes, there is no regulatory, judicial, adjudicatory framework at all,” added Singhvi.
The advocate also filed a note before the bench referring to fresh remarks made by Sarma in March and April, highlighting that the Bharatiya Janata Party leader continued to use the term “Miya”.
The petitioner urged the court to pass interim orders to restrict his speeches. The court did not accept the request and held that it must wait for Sarma’s response in the matter.
However, the court verbally told the state’s counsel that a response in the matter cannot be evaded.
The matter will now be heard on May 28.
Since January, Sarma has made a series of remarks targeting Bengali-origin Muslims in Assam, calling them “Miyas”. The BJP leader had said that it was his job to “make them suffer”.
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.
Petitions against Sarma have been filed by the Congress, Assamese scholar Hiren Gohain, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and others.
On February 26, the court had sought Sarma’s response on the petitions.
Earlier in February, the Supreme Court had declined to entertain the petitions seeking that a first information report be filed against Sarma for hate speech against Muslims.
The bench had told the petitioners to approach the Gauhati High Court. It had also asked the High Court to hear the matter on priority.
Also read: Has the Supreme Court gone soft on hate speech?
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