New Delhi: Complaint filed against Assam CM Himanta Sarma for hate speech against Bengali Muslims
New Delhi: Human rights activist and former civil servant Harsh Mander has filed a police complaint against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, accusing him of making hate speech targeting Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam.
The complaint, filed at the Hauz Khas Police Station, relates to statements allegedly made by Sarma on January 27, 2026, during an official event in Digboi in Tinsukia district of Assam.
According to the complaint, the Chief Minister’s remarks promoted hatred, harassment and discrimination against Bengali-speaking Muslims, commonly referred to as “Miyas”, a term widely regarded as derogatory in Assam.
Mander has sought prompt action and registration of an FIR under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including Sections 196, 197, 299, 302, and 353, and has requested a proper investigation and immediate steps to prevent any further such statements as the state conducts its special voter revision process.
This comes after social media outrage erupted as Sarma continues to make hate speech targeting Muslims of Bengali origin in Assam. Sarma, who has a long record of Islamophobic remarks, said he and his government are fully prepared to “harm,” “make suffer,” “teach a lesson,” and “give trouble” to “miyas,” a term he uses to describe Muslims of Bengali origin in Assam.
On 27 January, at an official event in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Himanta Biswa Sarma referred to Bengali-speaking Muslims using the term “Miya” and made remarks encouraging harassment, social discrimination, and the deletion of their names from electoral rolls.
Addressing reporters on the sidelines of the event, Sarma reportedly asserted that it was his responsibility to cause hardship to the Miya community and said steps were being taken to ensure they could not vote in Assam.
While the Election Commission is conducting the Special Intensive Revision in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing a Special Revision process. Referring to this, Sarma reportedly said the present exercise was only preliminary and that a larger deletion of names would take place when the SIR is implemented in Assam.
The complaint states that these remarks threaten communal harmony, public order, and the constitutional rights of the affected community, including their right to vote and livelihood. It further alleges that the speech amounts to incitement to discrimination and hostility.
The complaint further notes that the remarks were made by a sitting Chief Minister at an official event, which significantly aggravates their impact, as they carry the imprimatur of state authority and are likely to embolden unlawful acts by both state functionaries and private individuals, the complainant said.
Mander said that, given that the statements disclose the commission of cognisable offences, including offences relating to promoting enmity, deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, criminal intimidation, and abuse of official position, the registration of an FIR is mandatory under law.
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Sangh Parivar still afraid of Mahatma Gandhi: Kerala CM
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 78th death anniversary and claimed that the Sangh Parivar was still afraid of him and his memory and that is why his name was removed from the rural employment guarantee scheme.
Vijayan, in a Facebook post, said that Gandhi was killed because of his uncompromising stance on secularism and his vision of a pluralistic India that embraces diversity and disagreement.
He claimed that the Sangh Parivar was afraid of the memory of the Father of the Nation and hence his name was removed from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
"Why are they still afraid of Gandhiji? The answer is simple. Gandhiji's life and vision are the exact opposite of the politics of hatred and alienation envisioned by the Sangh Parivar," the CM contended.
He further claimed that the Sangh Parivar was trying to remove Gandhi from the lives of the ordinary people.
Vijayan said that unity in diversity was "the foundation stone of the Indian Republic" and everyone should be committed to protecting it from the "totalitarian tendencies that suppress dissent".
He claimed that there were certain forces which were trying to "rewrite history and elevate communal murderers as heroes" in order to lead the country towards totalitarianism.
The Marxist veteran said that Gandhi was "not assassinated by a man named Godse, but by an embodiment of the politics of hatred promoted by the Sangh Parivar" which is still trying to attack and destroy the Constitution and the democratic values of the country.
He said that Gandhi's martyrdom was a constant call for the anti-communal struggle.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan too claimed that the Sangh Parivar was afraid of Gandhi.
In his message on Facebook paying tribute to the Father of the Nation, Satheesan said that Sangh Parivar was even afraid of the memories of Gandhi and that is why they were "erasing books and writings" to hide things from people.
He too said that the assassin of Gandhi was not just a man, but an ideology.
Satheesan said that even though the Sangh Parivar shot him down, Gandhi still lives on after his death.
Gandhi, the most prominent face of India's freedom movement, was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on this day in 1948.
