Hate speech allegations based on ‘selective extracts’ of interviews, Himanta Sarma tells HC
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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the Gauhati High Court on Wednesday that he had been accused of hate speech based on selective extracts from interviews and speeches, Live Law reported.
In an affidavit submitted in the court in response to petitions seeking action against the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, he said that “extracting selective portions or isolated lines from an interview is capable of distorting the true meaning”, according to Northeast Now.
Since January, Sarma has made a series of remarks targeting Bengali-origin Muslims in Assam, calling them “Miyas”. The BJP leader had said that it was his job to “make them suffer”.
In Assam, “Miya” is a derogatory word used to refer to undocumented immigrants and is exclusively directed at Muslims of Bengali origin. They are often accused of being undocumented migrants from Bangladesh.
Once a pejorative in Assam, from the common use of the honorific “Miya” among South Asian Muslims, the term has now been reappropriated by the community as a self-descriptor to refer to Muslims who migrated to Assam from Bengal during the colonial era.
After Sarma’s remarks, Assamese scholar Hiren Gohain, Director General of Police Harekrishna Deka and activist Paresh Malakar had moved the court against him.
In April, the Gauhati High Court granted four more weeks to the Assam government and the BJP...