Muslim affluence may mark ‘beginning of Assamese surrender’: Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on November 9 said that the increasing economic prosperity among Muslims in the state could signal the beginning of what he described as the “surrender of the Assamese people.”

Addressing a press conference after a cabinet meeting, Sarma claimed that Assam is witnessing not only demographic changes but also a noticeable economic shift. “Apart from demographic change, there has been a shift in wealth creation as well. Earlier, we thought only the numbers had risen, but now even the wealth pattern has changed,” he said.

The Chief Minister cited government data from 2001 to 2011 to support his remarks, stating that the growth rate of the Hindu population has declined while that of the Muslim population has continued to rise across all blocks of the state. “In every block of Assam, the growth of the Hindu population is coming down and the Muslim population is increasing,” Sarma noted.

He described this as part of a larger trend with cultural and economic implications. “Demographic change has taken place rapidly... in a way, a chapter of the Assamese people’s surrender has begun,” he said.

Sarma also pointed to a surge in land sales from Hindus to Muslims, which he said the government has been monitoring closely under a directive issued last year. The order requires official scrutiny and permission for such transactions. “We are seeing that the sale of land from Hindus to Muslims is very high, while the vice versa is less,” the Chief Minister stated.

Clarifying that the government does not object to land deals involving Assamese Hindus and indigenous Muslims, Sarma added, “We don’t have any problem with that.”

He argued that the emerging economic imbalance reflects deeper social shifts. “You can sometimes accept demographic change, but witnessing an economic shift signals complete destruction,” he said, adding that more detailed data will be presented in a forthcoming press conference.

The directive introduced last year mandates prior approval from the Chief Minister’s Office for any land sale between Hindus and Muslims — a policy Sarma said allows the state to better understand “who is buying, who is selling, and what that means for the future of Assamese society.”