By The Wire Staff
New Delhi: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that his government would continue to “disturb” the ‘Miyas’ – a term used to refer to Muslims of Bengali origin residing in lower Assam – to “tame them down”.
“If we don’t do this, then they will dance over our heads,” a report by Deccan Chronicle quoted the Chief Minister of the state as saying.
Sarma was speaking on Saturday (January 24) at Guwahati about the special revision ongoing in his state, which has come under constant fire for worries about voter deletions among other issues.
He however denied that there were any controversies regarding the exercise, and rejected the charge that members of the opposition have leveled about the special revision – that the misuse of Form 7 (which enables an existing voter to file an objection to another person’s inclusion in the electoral list, or to delete their own or another’s name in the list due to death or change of residence) is harassing genuine citizens in the state.
Sarma strongly defended the special revision, suggesting the notices are being served only to “Miya” Muslims and not to indigenous communities.
“I have said this in [the] past as well that we will keep troubling them [the Miya Muslims],” the Deccan Chronicle report quoted Sarma as saying. “There is nothing to hide here. They should understand that Assamese people are resisting somewhere. If we stop poking them, then they will think that Assamese people are defeated.”
Therefore, “a few notices of SR will be served to them, a few eviction notices will also be served as notices from the border police”, he added.
His government would keep doing this “within the ambit of the law”, the chief minister claimed.
“We are with the poor, be it Hindu or Muslim or the Miyas. But it is not acceptable if they want to finish our civilisation [the Assamese]. So, these notices and disturbances will continue,” the news report quoted Sarma as saying.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.