Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has once again targeted the Muslim minority with controversial remarks, reflecting a continued effort by the Bharatiya Janata Party to create divisions within India, especially the state of Assam, along religious, caste, and community lines. This incident marks another degradation of Indian democracy in the name of caste, creed, and religion.
On Sunday, August 4, 2024, during the BJP’s State Executive meeting, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma declared that a new law will be brought in by the state government of Assam to ensure that no Hindu could sell their land to non-Hindus or Muslims, and vice-versa, without the prior permission of the state government. As per Sarma, this policy will bring in a significant change regarding inter-religion land transfers in the state. Sarma alleged that the lands of indigenous people in Assam are being acquired by a particular community and announced the introduction of a new law restricting land sales to specific communities. Specifically, he mentioned in certain districts land sale between different religious communities won’t be allowed without government clearance, pointing to the plan of the state government to ensure that no one could sell land to people from a particular community in undivided Goalpara.
Sarma also emphasized that the lands of Assam should remain in the hands of Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, and the Other Backward Caste communities. In his speech, Sarma said, “Earlier, inter-religion land transfers happened freely. Hindus used to buy land from Muslims, and Muslims used to buy land from Hindus. We cannot stop the buying or selling of lands. However, the Assam government has now decided that for a Hindu’s land to be bought by a Muslim, and vice versa, the Chief Minister’s approval will be required. Without the Chief Minister’s approval, no land buying or selling between Hindus and Muslims will take place.”
In the same speech, Sarma announced that the state government would soon introduce a new law mandating life imprisonment for those convicted of Love Jihad. Speaking at the BJP’s state executive meet in Guwahati, the CM said, “We spoke about ‘love jihad’ during the elections. In the next few days, we will bring a law that will award life imprisonment in such cases.”
The video can be viewed here:
It is essential to note that on July 30, the Uttar Prade
असम सरकार Land Jihad और Love Jihad को रोकने के लिए दो क़ानून ला रही है।
1️⃣ अगर कोई मुस्लिम हिंदू की संपत्ति ख़रीदना चाहता है या कोई हिंदू मुस्लिम की संपत्ति ख़रीदना चाहता है, तो उसे सरकारी अनुमति लेनी होगी।
2️⃣ लव जिहाद करने वालों को उम्रक़ैद की सजा दी जाएगी।… pic.twitter.com/NzVtwljHp7
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) August 4, 2024
sh assembly had also passed an amendment to its much-debated anti-conversion law, the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, by bringing in a series of sweeping changes ranging from relaxation in the filing of a complaint to allow any person to file the case, increasing maximum punishment from 10 years to life imprisonment, and restricting the bail provisions. The amendments incorporate ambiguous provisions which punishes a person who, “with the intension to cause religious conversion, puts any person in fear of his life or property, assaults or uses force, promises or instigates marriage, conspires or induces any minor, woman or person to traffic or otherwise sells them or abets, attempts or conspires in this behalf, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment of not less than 20 years, which can extend to life imprisonment”. A detailed story on the said amendments can be read here.
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