Oppn slams Assam CM Sarma after he blames ‘Miyas’ for veggie price rise

Opposition parties in Assam on Sunday (July 16) slammed Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after he blamed local Bengali-speaking Muslims for rising vegetable prices. The Opposition said he was playing communal politics.

While AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal said such words were unbecoming of a chief minister and that “Miyas” had been hurt by Sarma’s comment, opposition parties sniffed a collusion between the BJP and the AIUDF in communal politics ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

Sarma’s remark

Sarma, while responding to reporters’ questions on high vegetable price in Guwahati, reportedly said recently, “Vegetables are not priced so high in villages. Here, the Miya vendors charge us more. Had it been Assamese vendors selling vegetables, they wouldn’t have fleeced their own people.”

“I will clear all the pavements of Guwahati, and I urge our Assamese people to come forward and start their businesses,” he added.

Miya is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term in a gesture of defiance.

Also read: Don’t need Miya Muslim votes, neither will give them ticket: Assam minister

AIUDF reacts

Reacting to Sarma’s statement, Ajmal said such words were unbecoming of a chief minister, who is the head of a state, and the community has been feeling hurt and offended. “This is creating a communal divide. If it triggers any incident, the government and Himanta Biswa Sarma will be responsible for it,” the Lok Sabha MP added.

Ajmal also maintained that the prices of vegetables are not controlled by the “Miyas”.

Urging the Assamese youth to take up agriculture, he added, “We will welcome Assamese youth to join farming activities. But I don’t think they will do it, as it requires a lot of hard work.”

Congress allegation

Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah alleged that both Sarma and Ajmal were together in creating this Miya-Assamese controversy to drive a communal divide between the people.

“As elections are coming closer, both of them want to divide the people along religious lines. BJP has failed to address core issues like unemployment, price rise, illegal migrants, etc., and to divert attention, they are indulging in such tactics.”

Also read: Assam: Bhutan releases excess water from Kurichu dam, state on alert says CM

Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi also claimed that such communal statements by Sarma was a ploy to take away people’s attention from important issues.

“There are three main reasons for such communal politics. The BJP wants to divert attention from the draft delimitation proposal, as the Opposition has been able to lay bare before the people that the document doesn’t espouse the cause of the indigenous people,” he claimed.

Eye on Lok Sabha polls

“It also wants to sail through the elections through religious polarisation, as it has failed to deliver on its promises. And also, (it wants) to hide the rift within the old and new BJP members,” the Sivasagar legislator added.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Hemanta Phukan also alleged that communal politics is a tactic by the BJP to hide its failures.

“The BJP has failed the people, and to hide it, when elections are approaching, they are taking recourse to communal politics. Ajmal is also helping them in it. I urge the government to practise politics of development, as people will reject such communal tactics,” he added.

(With agency inputs)