Assam, Anti-Muslim Rhetoric And The Master Strategist

바카라�Himanta [Biswa Sarma] is right. All these lungi-clad Muslims should be kicked out of Assam,바카라� says Shibananda Talukdar, who is in his 40s. His friend Biswajit Phukan chips in. 바카라�We, Assamese, don바카라�t want to be run over by these Bangladeshis with whom we share no connection.바카라� Talukdar calls himself a self-employed professional. Phukan introduces himself as a medical representative and an avid biker.

They are sharing a table over coffee and snacks at a café in the Kahilipara neighbourhood of Guwahati, Assam바카라�s capital. Neither of them are from Guwahati. Work has brought them to the city from the suburbs. They insist that, to the best of their understanding, Guwahati and its suburbs overwhelmingly share the same sentiment바카라�Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma 바카라�talks sense바카라�.

Such pro-Biswa Sarma voices can be heard in all parts of Assam, from Dibrugarh in the east to Barpeta in the west and Silchar in the south. It is the Parliamentary election, in which re-electing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to India바카라�s top job is the Bharatiya Janata Party바카라�s (BJP) priority. BJP leaders are talking about Modi바카라�s development model. But in public discussions, the 55-year-old Biswa Sarma eclipses everyone else.

바카라�In Assam, Biswa Sarma, not Modi, is the biggest polariser,바카라� says a government schoolteacher, a Bengali-speaking Muslim living in Barpeta town of western Assam. He does not wish to be named.

It has been nearly a decade since Biswa Sarma, the 바카라�바카라�Number 2바카라�바카라� in Assam바카라�s last Congress government led by Tarun Gogoi rebelled against his party, quit the cabinet in July 2014, and joined the BJP a year later. The buzz in the state Congress is that he hoped to be Gogoi바카라�s successor. But the Congress바카라� decimation in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and Gogoi바카라�s son Gaurav바카라�s entry into state politics made him wary of his future. As his bargain with the Congress high command failed, he left for greener pastures.

The BJP national leadership saw his potential and high ambitions. They quickly made him the head of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the BJP-led alliance for northeast India that includes most of the region바카라�s important political parties. The party contested the 2016 assembly election with him as the convener of the election management committee.

After the formation of the BJP바카라�s Sarbananda Sonowal government, Biswa Sarma emerged as the second-most important leader, only to overshadow Sonowal soon. The BJP effectively fought the 2019 Lok Sabha election in Assam under his leadership. He eventually bagged Assam바카라�s top post in 2021.

By 2024, he has made a name for himself as Hindutva바카라�s latest poster boy, known at places far away from Assam for his 바카라�hate speeches바카라� targeting Muslims and derogatory remarks against Opposition leaders, especially those from the Congress.

Sentiments against Bengali-speaking Muslims, commonly referred to as 바카라�Miya바카라� in Assam in a derogatory sense, have a long history in Assam. Changes in Assam바카라�s religious and linguistic demography with the influx of Hindus and Muslims from Bangladesh have remained a central point of politics in Assam for over four decades.

However, the BJP differentiated between these migrants on the basis of religion and Biswa Sarma took the vilification of Bengali-speaking Muslims to a different level. He has accused Bengali Muslims of driving up vegetable prices and engaging in 바카라�fertiliser-jihad바카라�, called their women 바카라�child-producing machines바카라�, and described these Muslims as 바카라�very, very communal and fundamentalist바카라� who were 바카라�distorting Assamese culture바카라�.

Muslims compose 34% of Assam바카라�s population according to the census of 2011. About nine-tenths of them speak Bengali.

Since 2021, Biswa Sarma바카라�s government has shut down and even demolished madrasas. His crackdown against child marriage saw the Miya men bearing most of the brunt. His administration even closed down a small private museum highlighting Miya culture and slapped terror charges on the founder.

In a crude attack on Badruddin Ajmal of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF)바카라�which enjoys significant popularity among Assam바카라�s Bengali-speaking Muslims바카라�Biswa Sarma said in March this year that if Ajmal wishes to marry again, he should do it now, as Biswa Sarma바카라�s government is going to enact the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) once the elections are over. Then, a second marriage without nullification of the first will land anyone in jail.

The 68-year-old Ajmal is married to only one woman and has never expressed a wish to marry again. Biswa Sarma dragged Ajmal into his campaign against polygamy perceptibly because his favourite generalisation of Muslims is that they have multiple wives.

While underage marriage, teenage pregnancy, and polygamy are social evils that need to be eradicated and, indeed, have a higher prevalence in Assam than in many other parts of the country, Biswa Sarma바카라�s political campaign targets only Bengali Muslims.

바카라�Biswa Sarma has turned us into second-class citizens and he did it brazenly,바카라� says a government schoolteacher in Barpeta town of western Assam, requesting anonymity.

Biswa Sarma바카라�s vilification of the Miyas started even before he became the chief minister. Ahead of the 2021 assembly election, he proudly said that he did not need 바카라�바카라�Miya votes바카라�바카라�. 바카라�I will not be able to sit in the Assembly if they voted for me,바카라� he had said in one of his rants against the community. He reiterated the position multiple times between October 2023 and February 2024. This turned him into a hero in the eyes of many.

바카라�Smart바카라� is one of the most widely-used words to describe Biswa Sarma. He is daring, say others. Some call him an able crisis-handler. He knows everything about Assam바카라�s BJP and the Congress, people point out.

There are multiple corruption charges against him, some from the time he was in the Congress, some emerged during his chief ministership. But he manages to distract people from these.

According to political analyst Abhinav Borbora, a Lokniti-CSDS researcher, Biswa Sarma바카라�s unique selling point (USP) is his exceptional grasp of the electoral pulse of the people of Assam. 바카라�He has an unmatched understanding of how and what the voters are thinking and the nuanced dynamics that prevail in every constituency. We have to credit him with the kind of meticulous planning that no other contemporary politician in Assam has shown,바카라� Borbora says.

Borbora points out that one of the obstacles that Biswa Sarma faced towards his elevation as the chief minister was his caste Hindu identity. He is not an Ahom and does not belong to upper Assam, which has been the heartland of Assamese ethnic politics. Ahoms are Assam바카라�s dominant tribe currently listed among Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

However, after becoming the CM, Sarma recast his image as a leader with a pan-Assam appeal by focusing on the upper Assam belt, capitalising on public emotions around Ahom icons like the 17th-century military general Lachit Borphukan, he says.

Such has been the maneuvering skills of Biswa Sarma that even after his relentless vilification campaign and his government바카라�s actions, a section of Muslims may end up voting for the BJP. 

바카라�He abuses but also delivers,바카라� says Emran Hussain, a BJP supporter at Rupohihat, which is part of the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency in central Assam where Bengali-speaking Muslims live in large numbers. He adds that under Biswa Sarma, Muslim-concentrated areas were not neglected or deprived.

A doctor at a block primary health centre in Nagaon agrees that some Muslims are likely to vote for the BJP. He says that he asked a group of young Muslim women why some of them lean towards the BJP despite Biswa Sarma바카라�s series of abuses. 바카라�They told me that they were happy with the government바카라�s women-centric schemes,바카라� he shares.

Perhaps sensing such sentiments on the ground, Biswa Sarma has changed tactics in order to get the Miyas바카라� support. He has sensed that a portion of Miya votes could give the BJP a chance in Muslim-majority, close-contest seats such as Nagaon and Karimganj as well as Darang-Udalgiri, which has a sizeable Muslim population. The BJP expects Muslim votes in these seats to remain split between the Congress and the AIUDF.

During his repeated visits to Bengali Muslim-dominated constituencies in March and April, he declared that all his actions are aimed at bringing the community forward. 바카라�I believe that daughters, women and youths from the Miya community will vote for the BJP this time. I am fighting for Miya women so that there should not be talaq, child marriage, and women should get property rights as well,바카라� he said at the end of March.

Only time will tell which section of Assam바카라�s Bengali Muslims will take him to be their well-wisher.

Snigdhendu Bhattacharya in Guwahati

(This appeared in the print as 'The Master Strategist')