Communalism

Sarma Alleges 'Beef Being Weaponised' to Target Hindus in Assam

The Chief Minister claimed that while consuming beef during Eid was a matter of personal choice, using it to offend others was unacceptable.

Sarma Alleges 'Beef Being Weaponised' to Target Hindus in Assam

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during the press conference on Tuesday. Photo: X/@himantabiswa

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday (June 10) alleged that beef is being "weaponised" in the state to target the Hindu community, pointing to incidents where meat was reportedly discarded in public places following Eid celebrations.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP’s state headquarters in Guwahati, Sarma claimed the act was part of a deliberate attempt to provoke religious tensions and displace Hindus from certain neighbourhoods, news agency PTI reported.

“Earlier, if a couple of Muslim families lived in a Hindu neighbourhood, they would be careful not to create any problems for the Hindus. If they wanted to have beef, they would go to their people living in Muslim-majority areas,” Sarma said, citing one such reported incident in front of Cotton University after Eid.

The Chief Minister claimed that while consuming beef during Eid was a matter of personal choice, using it to offend others was unacceptable. He lamented the lack of public outcry over such acts, noting a decline in voices condemning the practice.

“Good Muslims oppose such acts. They do not post photos on Facebook holding beef,” he said, adding that only three members of the Muslim community had reached out to express disapproval.

Sarma warned that if such trends continued unchecked, religious sensitivities could be further inflamed.

“If things go on like this, in 20 years, beef will be thrown in front of Kamakhya temple,” he said, calling for public support alongside police action to curb such provocations.

Reiterating his hardline stance on illegal migration, Sarma said the Assamese people must adopt a “non-compromising” attitude to protect their identity, and noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was fully backing Assam’s efforts to push back illegal foreigners.

“Modi ji is saying push back (illegal foreigners), but Assamese people are questioning why push back is happening. Most criticism of the push back is coming from Assamese people… Modi ji alone cannot protect us,” he said.

Drawing a comparison with Gujarat, Sarma claimed that under Modi's leadership, illegal migrants were expelled without legal challenges, while in Assam, deportation efforts are routinely met with court petitions filed by local residents and lawyers.

The Chief Minister also lashed out at the Congress party and its legislative leader Debabrata Saikia for opposing deportation measures in the assembly. He referred to Saikia’s citation of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s opposition to the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act of 1950 — a law that empowers district officials to identify and expel illegal foreigners — as proof of what he called a historic "pro-foreigner" bias in Congress policies.

“Our struggle is against forces which have sympathisers everywhere in the world,” Sarma said.

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