‘They are once again back to their agenda of divisive politics,’ Cong on Himanta’s ‘certain community’ remark

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 28, 2024

Assam Congress on Friday reacted sharply to the statement of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his statement that a certain community is actively indulging in anti-social activities in the state after the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections.

Targeting a “certain community” for the recent anti-social activities across the state, Sarma said this community has been active soon after announcing the results of the Lok Sabha elections and carrying out such actions, which have been stopped in the last three years of his regime.

“Assam was in total peace in the last three years. But soon after announcing the result of the Lok Sabha elections, certain community people started committing anti-social acts in various parts of the state. We have received reports of six such incidents,” Sarma told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Nalbari on Thursday (June 28).

“There were reports of gangrape in Mazbat, Dhekiajuli and Dudhnoi and organized attacks on indigenous people at Bongaaigaon and Kokrajhar. The incidents of such pattern have not taken place in the last three years,” Sarma said.

The chief minister said the police have been asked to take tough action against the criminals.

“The people should find out the answer to why such incidents have taken place after the elections. The election results have encouraged this circle to commit such offence. We are highly concerned over it,” Sarma further said.

“Our ministers also visited the places of occurrence to take stock of the situation,” he added.

Reacting to the chief minister’s statement, Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah said the BJP is once against trying to polarize after its failure on all fronts.

“They are once again trying to set up a narrative for polarization because primarily they have failed in all other departments. ‘Good governance’ and ‘development of all’, were mere slogans,” Borah said in a statement.

“Their smart city projects never took off. Their tall promises of solving the problems of Flood and erosion have come to a nought,” Borah also said.

“They are once again back to basics, their national agenda of divisive politics. The people of Assam have rejected AIUDF in this Lok Sabha elections and in the 2026 Vidhan Sabha elections, the people of Assam will reject BJP. Communal politics is not appreciated by the people of Assam who have been living in communal harmony for centuries,” Borah further said.

“Law and order is in the hands of the chief minister, who is also holding the charge of the home minister of the state,” he said.

“So, the state government should improve its performance rather than divert issues by trying to malign a particular group of people because our Constitution doesn’t allow us to make any bias towards any community or group of people,” he added.

On June 27, Assam’s powerful minister Pijush Hazarika also blamed certain community people who have been encouraged to commit such offences by the results of the Lok Sabha elections.

In a Facebook post, Hazarika wrote: “Why is the incident of misleading human civilization like gang raping an Indigenous teenager? It is noted that in the last elections, 58 lakh votes of 75 lakh votes received in Assam were minority votes. They have won the election in Jorhat. But this victory has become courageous for the miscreants of a particular community.”.

“Several serial scattered incidents have started happening in Assam since last Lok Sabha elections and coincidentally (!). In these incidents, the name of a particular community person has been eating. Several indigenous people were seriously injured in the gang attack of Bamunbari village near Kayakuchi of Barpeta district after elections in last May. The names of the main accused arrested by the police in this incident of a planned attack on an indigenous Assamese village are Zahoor Khan (54), Babidul Khan (18), Sahab Ali (48), Abdul Mia (60) and Nirajul Mia (18). The names of others accused in the incident are Zakir Khan (25), Atowar Ali (20), Inzamanul Haque (23), Zainal Abedin (25) and Noor Mohammad Miya (21),” the minister said.

“A man who was arrested on suspicion of being involved in mobile theft in Khelmati police chair in Lakhimpur district died in police custody. According to a next-time doctor report, the man was previously suffering from heart disease which caused him to die. But without doubt of the incident, many people from a particular community attacked police chairs and threw stones at police on duty. Police people along with journalists were also injured in this attack. The main accused of the 26 accused who were arrested by the police on allegations of this planned and group attack incident were Jahangir Ali, Rajibul Hussain, Asadul Haque, Sariful Ali, Shahjahan Ali, Monirul Islam, Papu Khan, Mojibur Rahman, Shahjahan Ali, Azizur Rahman, Mubarak Ali, Qasem Ali, Anarul Islam, Baharul Islam, Soni Ahmed, Malek Ali, Syed Mujibur Rahman, Wasinur Rahman, Rezaul Islam, Amir Hamza, Saiful Islam, Nazim Ali and Noor Hussain Ali,” Hazarika further said.

“In another incident on June 7, several people of the Koch Rajbanshi community including women were seriously injured in a group attack by miscreants in Chithila area of Kokrajhar district. The names of the main accused of this planned incident are Maqbul, Surman Ali, Nasad Ali, Azad, Jamad Ali, Faraz, Khariz, Arif, Aynal Ali, Hafizul and Zumur,” the minister said.

“A very heinous incident of gang-raping a teenager took place in Udalguri district on June 22. The names of the accused arrested by the police in this incident are Ansen Ahmed (29), Saddam Hussain, Mustaq Ahmed (29), Mahidul Islam (25) and Abhizul Ali (25),” the minister wrote in the post.

He also said police have arrested an accused named Saidul Ali in another heinous incident of rape of a teenage girl student in Dhekiajuli, Sonitpur on June 24.

“The fact is what do these events reflect the name of a particular community? In the recent election, our party Bharatiya Janata Party candidate lost in Upper Assam’s Jorhat constituency. But the question is why are the miscreants of a particular community suddenly active and engaged in a group attack after a suddenly three years after this election,” he questioned.

“Today our government is moving forward to taking the strictest action against the attack on indigenous villages or abuse on indigenous teenagers. But suddenly a group of miscreants attacks in a community in the state cannot be taken easily in a social context,” he said.

“Our government has worked for the betterment of everyone in the past. But now in the courage of someone’s victory, the miscreants of a particular community have started attacking indigenous Assamese and Indians. The government will eradicate these organized miscreants with strict hands,” he added.