Day after 'Miya' remark, Assam Oppn files FIR against Himanta Sarma

Opposition parties of Assam on Wednesday filed a first information report against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, accusing him of 'promoting enmity' based on religion and race.

They accused Sarma of attempting to incite communal tension by targeting a specific community, potentially leading to riot-like situations in the state.

Lurinjyoti Gogoi, general secretary of the United Opposition Forum Assam, lodged the FIR with Dispur police station.

Gogoi was accompanied by leaders of other parties of the Forum.

The UOFA is an alliance of 18 parties in Assam, aligned with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

"We are lodging this FIR against Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, who happens to be the chief minister of the state, for trying to promote enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion and race," the FIR, which was shared with the media, read.

The complaint was received by an official at the police station, but no case has been registered yet, the police said.

Referring to the alleged gang-rape of a 14-year-old girl in Dhing, which evoked widespread condemnations and protests, the UOFA claimed that Sarma is 'trying to whip up communal frensy by targeting a particular community'.

It has already resulted in "attack on some people belonging to religious minority in Sivasagar by BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) workers and leaders", the opposition parties claimed, adding that it had been done as "part of conspiracy to create a riot-like situation in the state and the accused named Himanta Biswa Sarma and other BJP leaders are part of the criminal conspiracy to create such unrest".

The UOFA alleged that Sarma has a history of making provocative statements against a particular community, referencing an instance from a year ago when the chief minister reportedly urged the public to evict individuals of a specific religious community, whom he referred to as 'Miya', from Guwahati.

'Miya' is a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in the state.

Citing similar recent instances, the UOFA highlighted that the Chief Minister had allegedly targeted a journalist with "obvious communal innuendos" and accused a specific community of land encroachment by forcing original dwellers to leave by deliberately eating beef.

"The belligerent nature of the accused can be gauged from the fact that in a party meeting held in the recent past, he claimed himself to be a mad dog. If such a person is not arrested and restrained immediately, he can create a riot-like situation in the state for getting political mileage out of it," the FIR maintained.

"We, therefore, request you to kindly register a case against the accused person and his co-conspirators under Section 61, 196 and 35(2) of the Bharatia Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and investigate," the complaint, signed by Bhupen Borah, state Congress chief and president of UOFA, and Gogoi, added.

The UOFA had on Tuesday demanded the President and the Governor to terminate Sarma as the chief minister for his series of "communal and unconstitutional" statements aimed at creating clashes between communities.

Besides, the UOFA will also write to the Supreme Court for a thorough investigation into the CM and his family's pile of "unaccounted" property by a judge of the apex court, its leaders had said.