Introduction
In a speech uploaded on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) by the official account of Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam on August 9 said that “Today the population of Hindus in Bangladesh has remained only 8%. See how much violence is happening there. There are some districts in Assam where the Hindu population has remained only 12%. But our temples and women are safe because everyone knows whose government is in Assam.”
This is not the first time that Sarma has caught attention for targeting Muslim minority in the state of Assam and engaging in religious appeal to Hindus to save their (Assamese) identity against the threat of what the right-wing calls population jihad. While he targeted Muslim community of the state by calling Assam’s Muslim majority districts “tiny Bangladesh”, he further suggested that fear of government machinery backed by police and military is necessary to instil fear in “some people” to ensure that Hindus of the state are protected.
Previously, on August 4, during the BJP’s State Executive meeting Sarma had targeted Muslim minorities in Assam by accusing them of engaging in so-called land jihad and love jihad.
Transcript of Sarma’s August 9 speech can be found below:
The government that is in the interest of the nation today will remain in Assam for a long time. We cannot expect much longer from the population that is changing rapidly today. We are just lagging behind with our combined forces, in a certain future that should happen today, like some delimitation, sometimes movements, sometimes challenges among people. Thus, we are lagging behind a certain dangerous dark future. I don’t know how far we can save ourselves politically, but if our society is united, if we take responsibilities for our institutions and if we keep people alive with the ideals of the two Mahapurush to our future generations then maybe we can live as Assamese. Today you see in the neighbouring Bangladesh, where 35% of the population was Hindu, today the number of Hindus there has become 8%, the temples have been demolished. If we imagine Barpeta, Dhubri district of Assam, Dhubri district has 12% Hindu population. For example, Bangladesh has 8%, Dhubri has 12% Hindu people. Barpeta, et cetera districts have 30% Hindu people, Morigaon has 35% Hindu population. That is, each is a tiny Bangladesh. Now our districts of Assam have already been built. Just because someone is afraid that the government has police and military with them, if Hindu people are tortured, then they might be arrested and attacked, the government can take them to court. They are just in fear of something. The day that fear is broken, we will see the scene in Bangladesh today everywhere in Assam except upper districts of Assam. And that is the real truth of our lives.
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