Himanta Vishwa Sharma’s comment on Mia: An independent member of the Rajya Sabha filed a police complaint against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Vishwa Sharma on Monday alleging that the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party had made a hate speech against the ‘Miya’ community a day earlier .
The Assam Unit of the Trinamool Congress has written to Chief Justice (CJI) DY Chandrachud asking for legal action against Sharma for his comments against the ‘Miya’ community.
The term ‘Miya’ is used for the Bengali Speaking Muslims of Assam. Responding to questions about the high price of vegetables in Guwahati last week, Sharma said, “The prices of vegetables in villages are not that high. Miya shopkeepers here are asking more than us. If he had been an Assamese, he would have vegetables sold and not plundered his own people.
He reportedly said, I will clean all the footpaths of Guwahati, I urge my Assamese to come forward and start their business. Party chief Badruddin Ajmal of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) said the chief minister’s comments were “hurt”.
At the same time, Congress and other opposition parties expressed fears of a collusion between the BJP and AIUDF in “community politics” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due next year. ‘Miya’ is actually a derogatory term used for Bengali speaking Muslims in Assam. In recent years, people in the community have used the term to express disrespect.
Ajit Bhuiyan, an independent member of the Rajya Sabha from Assam, said he has lodged a complaint with the Dispur police station here against certain statements made by state constitutional officials, which clearly amount to hate speech against a particular community. Bhuiyan claimed that such comments were intended to create divisions between different communities in the state and were detrimental to national integration.
He claimed that the Chief Minister’s statement has also been echoed by some ministers and MLAs. Bhuiyan said a closer look at the statement would reveal that it was intended to promote disharmony between different groups based on religion and race.
Referring to recent Supreme Court directions in hate speech cases, Bhuiyan demanded registration of a case against Sharma under the provisions of India’s Penal Code and Investigation and Action. Sources said Dispur police have received the complaint but are yet to register an FIR against the chief minister.
Ripun Bora, president of the Assam unit of the Trinamool Congress, in a letter to Supreme Court Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, asked for action against Sharma and suo motu action against the Assam government for its “hate speech” against the ‘Miya community to initiate contempt proceedings. He claimed that Sharma’s statement could not only incite some of the people to hatred among the community.
Edited by: Chetan Gour (Language)
