Senior advocate Upamanyu Hazarika lashed out at Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stating that his actions often contradict his assertions, as he frequently relies on strategies that suggest otherwise.
Criticizing CM Sarma, the senior advocate said, "Sri Himanta Biswa Sarma is on record having said several times he doesn’t need ‘Miya’ (Muslim migrant) votes, but like most of his assertions, he says one thing and does precisely the opposite."
"The Assam Cabinet approved a Development Council for the 'Kiran Sheikh' community in the Barak valley. Kiran Sheikh are migrant Muslim fishermen from Bangladesh. Only a few days earlier Mufti Rashidul Hoque, the President of the Nagaon Ulema Council joined the BJP. Just a week before, he was telling the Bangladeshi Muslim migrants to ‘indigenize’ themselves by adopting local habits and customs," Upamanyu Hazarika added.
He further added that CM Sarma has several times made public proclamations of implementing legal safeguards for the indigenous in terms of the Committee recommendations constituted under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, granting ST status to six ethnic communities, but hasn’t moved an inch on implementation.
He said, "The indigenous are given assurances, not to be fulfilled, forty years after the Assam Accord, which helped entrench the Bangladeshi migrants. Now government schemes are undertaken to attract their vote, which earlier wasn’t available to the BJP."
"He can do this, only because all other parties base their support on the Bangladeshi vote and which deters the indigenous voter. But, it is this confidence in an assured indigenous vote, which made the AGP cultivate the Bangladeshi vote, eventually losing indigenous support and paving the way for the BJP. The BJP is also now traveling down the same route," Hazarika further said.
He further went on to slam CM Sarma stating that this type of leadership undermines the integrity of the NRC and neglects to enforce safeguards for indigenous communities, eventually turning Assam into another Bangladesh.