The Gauhati High Court Thursday issued notice to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after hearing a batch of petitions seeking action against him for repeated alleged hate speeches against ‘miyas’, a term he uses to refer to Bengali-origin Muslims.
A Division Bench of Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Chaudhury heard arguments on three PILs presented by senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Chander Uday Singh and Meenakshi Arora, and directed that notices to the chief minister, the Assam government and the Union government, while stating that it did not think it necessary at this stage to issue notice to the BJP, which was listed as a respondent in one of the petitions. The next hearing will now be held in April.
Earlier this month, the petitioners, which included renowned Assamese scholar Hirendranath Gohain, former Assam DGP Harekrishna Deka, and journalist Paresh Malakar, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had approached the Supreme Court on the same matter. The apex court had declined to hear the petitions and had directed the petitioners to approach the Gauhati High Court.
The senior advocates appearing for the petitioners listed multiple instances of public statements by Assam Chief Minister since 2023, with senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi pointing to a “habitual consistent repetitive pattern” and accusing Sarma of violating his oath of office and Articles 14, 15, the Preamble of the Constitutions, as well as statutes under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS). He appealed for the registration of an FIR against Sarma and orders for “a complete stoppage in the future.”
Among the instances of alleged public statements cited by the advocates are him calling on people to “trouble miyas”, stating that it is his “job” to “trouble miyas” and suggesting paying “Rs 4” to a rickshaw-wallah from the community if he asks for Rs 5; citing Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of “non-cooperation” and “civil disobedience” to create an environment “in which they cannot stay in Assam”; in 2024, accusing a private university owned by a Bengali-origin Muslim individual of being responsible for flooding in through “flood jihad”; declaring in the state Legislative Assembly in August 2024 that he “will take sides” and “will not let Miya Muslims take over all of Assam”. They also referred to a now deleted AI-generated video which had been posted on social media by the BJP Assam showing Sarma aiming a rifle at two men in skull-caps.
“They (petitioners) feel that the chief minister of the state is the chief minister of the entire state, in the interest of every last citizen of the state and not a chief minister of X or Y or Z, or a majority or a minority… He is the last go to person for the entire state… This is the anguish that brings these three petitioners before your lordship,” stated Senior Advocate Chander Uday Singh, representing Gohain, Deka and Malakar.
Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora also argued: “As a head of a state or as person who occupies a position of power and responsibility cannot make remarks that can lead to a law-and-order issue or which will result in leading certain members of any other community to follow him and take law in their own hands”.
Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar also orally remarked that a “fissiparous tendency” appears from the alleged statements presented by the petitioners. However, the court said that it would examine the submissions of the respondents before issuing any orders.
