Guwahati: In a significant development, the Gauhati High Court on Thursday issued notice to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on a batch of petitions seeking action against him for allegedly making repeated speeches targeting a particular community.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury heard the matter at length and sought responses from Sarma, as well as the Central and Assam governments.
The court said the notice was accepted on behalf of the Union government and the Assam government, while a formal notice was directed to be issued to Chief Minister Sarma.
The matter is scheduled to be taken up next in April.
During the hearing, the Bench observed that some of the statements attributed to Sarma and cited by the petitioners appeared to reflect a “fissiparous tendency.”
The Chief Justice, while making the observation, said the court would examine the explanations offered by the respondents.
Senior Advocate C.U. Singh, appearing for some of the petitioners, argued that Chief Minister Sarma had engaged in what he described as “dog whistling” by making remarks suggesting that “Miya” Muslims should not be allowed to vote in Assam and could instead exercise voting rights in Bangladesh.
He also submitted that Sarma had allegedly spoken about “stealing” Miya Muslim votes and removing large numbers of Muslim voters from electoral rolls.
The court noted that not every statement could be viewed in isolation and said it would assess the overall context of the remarks placed before it.
“There is a fissiparous tendency, it appears, from what you are showing. Let us see what they are saying,” the Chief Justice observed.
The petitions relate to several public statements and actions attributed to Chief Minister Sarma.
In one speech delivered on January 27, Sarma reportedly said that four to five lakh “Miya” voters would be removed from the electoral rolls and that the party and he were “directly against Miyas.”
The term “Miya” is widely considered derogatory when used for Muslims in Assam.
The petitions also refer to a video shared by the BJP’s Assam unit on February 7, which allegedly depicted Chief Minister Sarma firing at animated images of two Muslim men, accompanied by phrases such as “Point blank shot” and “No Mercy.”
The petitions were filed by the Congress party, CPI(M), noted Assamese scholar Hiren Gohain and others.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had declined to entertain the matter, asking the petitioners to approach the High Court.
Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, C.U. Singh and Meenakshi Arora appeared for the petitioners.
(IANS)
