Pijush Hazarika hits back at remarks mocking Assam CM's Hindi accent, calls it insult to Northeast identity

Assam Minister Pijush Hazarika has strongly reacted to social media remarks mocking Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over his Hindi accent, saying such comments insult the linguistic identity of the Northeast.

 

The controversy erupted after Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair shared a post on X highlighting and mocking the Chief Minister’s Hindi pronunciation. The clip drew sharp political reactions in Assam.

 

Responding to the criticism, Hazarika said Hindi is not the mother tongue of people in Assam, who grow up speaking Assamese, Bodo, Karbi, Mishing, Dimasa, Bengali and several other languages. He said people from the Northeast speak Hindi with pride to strengthen national unity and integration, not because it is imposed on them.

 

“For decades, people from the Northeast have made the effort to learn and speak Hindi so that we can connect with the rest of India. Our accents reflect our geography and our roots. That is not a weakness; that is diversity within unity,” he said.

 

The minister further questioned whether mocking an elected Chief Minister’s accent amounted to ridiculing the identity of an entire region. He termed the remarks as “elitist” and said critics who cannot counter policies or governance resort to personal jibes.

 

“When you cannot debate substance, you attack pronunciation,” Hazarika added, asserting that linguistic diversity should be respected in a pluralistic country like India.