Even judging by the ugliness of the hate speeches being used by politicians all over the country these days, particularly when States are facing elections, the nastiness of the recent speech of Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam comes as a shock to citizens of this country and especially to us in the Constitutional Conduct Group, strong believers as we are in the principles of the Indian Constitution. The Constitutional Conduct Group is a group of former government officials who have worked both with the central and state governments and have come together to speak out against violations of the Indian Constitution. As a group we are politically neutral.

2. In our view, this is a brazen and shameful violation of the Indian Constitution by the current Chief Minister of Assam. Himanta Biswa Sarma, like all chief ministers, had taken an oath of office to faithfully and conscientiously discharge his duties as a Minister and to do right to all manner of people in the State in accordance with the Constitution, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. Yet he thinks nothing of trampling upon the fundamental rights of Bengali speaking Muslims in Assam by violating Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees equality before the law, or of Article 15 which prohibits discrimination against citizens on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. He has also disregarded the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (formerly the Indian Penal Code) against the promotion of enmity between groups, of outraging religious feelings and of deliberately creating public mischief. He labels all Bengali Muslims in Assam with the pejorative term ‘Miyas’, claiming that they are all Bangladeshis and have no right to stay in Assam or in India. According to his understanding there are no Bengali Muslims in India who are Indian citizens, or legitimate residents of Assam, and all such people should be thrown out of the country. In a hateful exhortation, he calls upon the public to harass Bengali Muslims (Miyas, to use his term) to such a extent that they are forced to leave Assam as well as the country. He has encouraged the public to do all manner of wrongful things to trouble the Bengali Muslims in Assam, and has assured them that the Assam police would protect them in their wrongdoing.

3. The people of Assam are well aware that all the Bengali Muslims resident in Assam are not Bangladeshis who have illegally entered the country. But when there is such a dog whistle from none other than the Chief Minister of the State, and in the hate-filled atmosphere that prevails in India, today, one can never be sure of the repercussions. By repeatedly making the allegation that Bengali Muslims in Assam are intruders who have stolen the jobs of the Assamese, the Chief Minister is planting seeds of doubt in the minds of people, seeds which may result in major riots and killings.

4. Even after facing a backlash across the country with cases started against him by conscientious citizens for his poisonous speech, Mr Sarma remains undeterred, and claims pugnaciously that he would start hundreds of cases, presumably using the state machinery, against those who have registered cases against him. We are amazed that a Chief Minister can say all these things without being reined in by his party. But, alas, the days when Atal Behari Vajpayee talked of the ‘raj dharma’ of chief ministers are long over.

5. We are not surprised that the central government has neither taken note of these incidents to disturb the public peace and order, nor acted to dissuade Mr. Sarma from making such provocative utterances. We, therefore, urge the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance of his hate speeches as they directly violate, and are in contempt of, the Court's own orders in the past. We also urge the Honourable President of India to intervene in the matter before it is too late, and suitably advise both the Prime Minister and Mr Sarma to abide by their oaths to the Constitution and the dignity of their respective offices.


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