April 14, 2026 06:20 pm (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
'ECI deviated from Bihar procedure': Supreme Court raises concerns over voter deletion in Bengal SIR | Noida workers’ protest turns violent: Stones pelted, vehicles damaged over wage hike demand | Oil prices jump above $103 a barrel as US moves to block Iran-linked shipping | I don’t care if they come back or not, says Trump after Iran talks collapse | Legendary singer Asha Bhosle suffers cardiac arrest, hospitalised | Big boost to India–Mauritius ties: S. Jaishankar hands over 90 e-buses | Middle East tension: Iranian delegation arrives in Islamabad for major talks, 10,000 security personnel deployed | Ranveer Singh visits RSS HQ amid Dhurandhar 2 success, triggers speculation | ED raids ex-Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee; SSC scam resurfaces ahead of polls | Amit Shah promises UCC, ₹3,000 aid per month for women and youth in BJP’s Bengal manifesto

Assam BJP minister asks the audience to choose between Hindu or Muslim migrants

| | Nov 02, 2016, at 10:14 pm
Guwahati, Nov 2 (IBNS): The BJP- led Assam government minister and convenor of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma made a controversial statement over Hindu Bangladeshi issue when he asked to the audience of Assam to choose between Hindu or Muslim migrants.

On Tuesday, the Assam minister was replying the queries on the opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Assam and said that, who is our enemy, the 1-1.5 lakh people or the 55 lakh people.

“The Assamese community in their own motherland is at the crossroads. We could not (save) 11 districts. If we continue remain this way, six more districts will go out in the 2021,” the Assam minister said.

Himanta Biswa Sarma further asked the people, who are opposing the bill, that which community has threatened to reduce the Assamese community to a minority in Assam.

When asking about whether BJP wanted to differentiate between Hindu and Muslim migrants, the BJP minister said, “Yes, we do. After all, the country was divided in the name of religion. So it is not a new thing.”

Following his controversial statement, Assam on boil point as several organisations had burnt effigy of the BJP minister.

Former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi termed him as Second Jinnah.

“Jinnah and Muslim League had divided India in the name of religion and now Himanta Biswa Sarma and BJP want to divide the nation in the same way,” Gogoi said.

On the other hand, former Assam CM and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta on Wednesday said that, Assam will not take any more burden.

“AGP will not allow as the state turns dustbin for illegal Bangladeshi migrants,” Mahanta said.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.