DATA REVEALS RISING HATE AND VIOLENCE AGAINST BENGALI-SPEAKING MUSLIMS IN ASSAM

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Wed 06 August 2025:

Washington-based advocacy and research group India Hate Lab on Thursday released a new data brief under its Early Warning, Early Response (EWER) initiative on “sharp and deeply concerning” escalation in hate speech, targeted harassment and violence against Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam state.

The briefing said Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has played a central role in legitimising this campaign. It noted that in May, Sarma announced a new scheme to issue arms licenses to indigenous residents of “vulnerable and remote areas,” particularly those living along the Bangladesh border.

He specifically named five districts with significant Muslim populations as the initial focus areas, stating that the initiative was intended to “tackle unlawful threats from hostile quarters.”

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Between July 9 and July 30, India Hate Lab (IHL) has documented 18 rallies and protests across 14 districts in Assam. These events, many organised or supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders or supporters, featured hate-filled speeches, celebrations of violent evictions, and calls for further demolitions of alleged “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants” homes and businesses. In many instances, demonstrators carried symbolic bulldozers, glorifying state violence as a patriotic act.

India Hate Lab also documented nine cases of targeted violence and harassment between July 19 and July 30. In Chapaidang, Muslim workers were physically attacked and their homes vandalised after being accused of harbouring evictees.

In Kaliabor, members of the Assamese ethno-nationalist group Bir Lachit Sena stopped Muslim families from settling with relatives. In Mariani, the group conducted door-to-door ID checks of Bengali-speaking Muslims, ordering that documents be submitted to the police within two days. In Dergaon, Golaghat, the Hindu nationalist group Sachetan Yuva Mancha pressured a landlord to expel his Muslim tenants, claiming such evictions were in line with the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s vision.

Over the past month, five major demolition and eviction drives have been conducted, displacing thousands of Bengali-origin Muslim families. In Dhubri alone, over 1,600 families were evicted on July 8 to make way for Adani Group’s thermal power project. In Goalpara, on July 12, more than 1,000 homes and a mosque were razed, followed by police firing on protesters resisting the eviction on July 17, which left one dead and several injured. On July 26, structures, including a mosque, were demolished in Dima Hasao under the pretext of clearing forest land.

On July 29, in Uriamghat, over 250 homes were torn down, with Muslim victims alleging that only their community had been targeted.

IHL said the state authorities in Assam should immediately halt all eviction and demolition drives targeting Bengali-origin Muslim communities and ensure due process and rehabilitation for all those evicted, as well as hold accountable state officials and political leaders who incite hate or enable communal violence through speech or action.

The local authorities in Assam should protect minority communities from vigilante groups such as Bir Lachit Sena and Sachetan Yuva Mancha through effective policing and prosecutions.

This article is republished from Maktoob Media. Read the original article.