'Won't let 'Miya' Muslims take over Assam': Himanta Sarma takes hard Hindutva stand again

Assam chief minister Himanta Sarma

In another example of taking an assertive Hindutva stance, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Sarma told Opposition in the assembly on Tuesday that he won't let Muslims take over the state.

Sarma who has always maintained that the Bangladesh-origin community will vote for Congress because they want to "control" the state in the next 10 years, challenged the opposition: "I will take sides, what can you do?"

Recently, commenting on the background of the accused in gang-rape of a minor girl in Assam’s Nagaon district in August, Sarma had said, "All the places in which indigenous people (Hindu Assamese) are in the minority, in those areas, our people are always living with troubles."

In another comment, Sarma gave 'flood jihad' tag to the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM), saying the architecture of the building resembles 'Mecca'.

"Hindus are staying and fighting in Bangladesh. In the last one month, not a single Hindu person has been detected trying to enter India,” Sarma said on August 24. He also added that Muslims from Bangladesh were trying to cross into India to find work in the textile industry in Bangalore and Tamil Nadu, not for Assam.

In last June, the same leader said in a public address in Guwahati, without naming any community: "...Hindus do not indulge in communalism. If anyone indulges in communalism in Assam, it is only one community, one religion. No other religion does it."

"They (minority people) may be residing in houses given by Modi, availing electricity and sanitation facilities provided by Modi, but when they go to vote, they vote for Congress," he claimed.

Notably, he is the same leader who just before the Lok Sabha elections had claimed that the BJP would win at least 20 per cent of Muslim votes in Assam.