Himanta claims beef "weaponised" against Hindus, tells Assamese people to act firmly

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday alleged that beef is being "weaponised" against Hindus in the state, citing instances of pieces of the meat being purportedly thrown in public places after the Eid celebration last week.

Stressing that Assamese people have to take a "non-compromising" stance to push back illegal foreigners, he maintained that Assam was waging a struggle against forces which had "sympathisers" across the globe.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP state office here, Sarma said, "Earlier, if a couple of Muslim families lived in a Hindu neighbourhood, they would be careful not to create any problems for the Hindus. If they wanted to have beef, they would go to their people living in Muslim-majority areas."

"But now, it has become such that they will throw away the leftovers and waste around so that the Hindus in the neighbourhood have to eventually leave that place," he added.

He cited the instances of beef being purportedly left in various places after Eid last week, including in front of Cotton University here.

"Someone can have it at Eid, but it cannot be weaponised against other people," Sarma asserted.

He rued that no protests were held against the act and maintained that the number of voices opposing such incidents are coming down.

"Good Muslims oppose such acts. They do not post photos on Facebook holding beef," he said, adding that he received just three phone calls from Muslim persons after these incidents to say that they do not approve of it.

The chief minister expressed apprehension that if things move as it is now, "in 20 years, beef will be thrown in front of Kamakhya temple".

While police have a role in curtailing such incidents, support of the people behind the force is necessary for it to take decisive steps, Sarma added.

He asserted that the Assamese people have to take a "non-compromising stance to protect ourselves" and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government was willing to lend all its help.

"Modi ji is saying push back (illegal foreigners), but Assamese people are questioning why push back is happening. Most criticism of the push back is coming from Assamese people... Modi ji alone cannot protect us," he said.

He claimed that all foreigners were sent away from Gujarat by Modi and not a single one went to the court, whereas in Assam, cases are filed daily against action on illegal migrants by Assamese petitioners and lawyers.

Sarma said that Congress and its legislative party head Debabrata Saikia, had opposed the pushback of foreigners in the assembly on Monday, but no organisation has protested their stand or media criticised the party for it.

He also cited Saikia, quoting in the assembly that then PM Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, which empowers district commissioners to identify foreigners and remove them.

"This goes on to show that Nehru's pro-foreigner stance was from 1950 itself," he said.

"Our struggle is against forces which have sympathisers everywhere in the world," Sarma maintained.

He said 2,895 Facebook accounts, originating from places like Islamabad, Dhaka, and Riyadh, are active, which write or comment only on Palestine and Assam.

"We are a state surrounded by enemies... we have to do our research and hand over these details to Modi ji, so that he can take it further and enlist the help of agencies like Interpol," Sarma said.

He said that the "interest" of Pakistan and Bangladesh in Assam had been since the time of Independence, as it was proposed to be included in the erstwhile East Pakistan.

"It is nothing new. When there was friendly government in Bangladesh, anti-India sentiments had decreased, and when Younis came, these sentiments increased. In Pakistan, the anti-India sentiments were always there," he maintained.

"If we take the initiative (to work against these forces), central government will help us," he added.

Mentioning of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Sarma said that the state government, AASU and others are "not satisfied" with it.

He said the state government has approached the Supreme Court for re-verification of 20-10 per cent of the names in various categories, and though the apex court has not agreed to it yet, "we believe the court will accept it".

He also cited an SC judgement which states that NRC and deportation of foreigners are not linked.

Sarma said that the state government will use the 1950 Act for "removing" foreigners from the state, with 35 identified illegal immigrants ready to be pushed back as soon as the flood situation improves.

Admitting that sending them back will not completely solve the problem, he said that it will ensure that new immigrants will not try to enter.

"Arunachal Pradesh regularly sends back these people and hence, there have fear to go there. We also have to instill that fear," he added.

Sarma claimed that there was a section of lawyers trained by the Congress who helped ineligible people to get their names included in the NRC, though he did not take any names.

He emphasised the need for lawyers to represent the "people of the state" in the Supreme Court in cases on foreigners, maintaining that only government advocates were not enough.

"Courts are for the people... if there are lawyers representing the interest of the people, the judiciary will have a better understanding of the people's problems," he added. (PTI)