Since the British colonial era, a significant number of Bengali-speaking Muslims have migrated to Assam. This influx was largely driven by the British East India Company's efforts to cultivate Assam's “wastelands,” leading to these communities settling in the state's riverine or “Char” areas.
By the 1970s, nativist Assamese organizations, spearheaded by the All Assam Students’ Union, launched the Assam Movement. They aimed to expel undocumented immigrants, primarily accusing a large portion of Indian-born Bengali Muslims of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. The movement culminated in the signing of the Assam Accord, which mandated the creation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) specifically for Assam.
In 2016, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in Assam State and spearheaded the NRC process. This updated register subsequently excluded a substantial number (1.9 million people) of the Bengali Muslim population, intensifying an already complex socio-political issue. The NRC process also made many people more vulnerable to governmental abuse.
In 2021, the BJP returned to power in Assam for a second consecutive term, with Himanta Biswa Sarma assuming office as chief minister. Sarma gained national attention due to his hardcore Hindu nationalist narratives. He accused Miyas of grabbing land in Assam illegally, claiming they are a threat to Assam’s culture and identity.
An Islamophobic narrative?
Chief Minister Sarma has consistently targeted the Bengali Muslim, or Miya, communities, alleging their involvement in various forms of “jihad,” broadening the term beyond its conventional religious context to describe a spectrum of alleged crimes.
On multiple occasions, Sarma has accused the Miya community of “land jihad” through encroachment and has advocated for eviction drives in the affected regions. He went even further and in August 2024, he announced a new law for land transactions between Hindus and Muslims, which will require prior Chief Ministerial consent.
Sarma has alleged what he calls “Fertilizer Jihad,” claiming that Miya farmers are excessively using fertilizers and insecticides on produce, thereby conducting a “chemical and biological attack” on the Assamese people. He has also accused them of “Flood Jihad,” claiming that a Muslim-owned private university is responsible for contributing to floods in Guwahati city.
More recently, Sarma initiated a fresh controversy by alleging “Online Jihad,” asserting that Muslim individuals are creating social media accounts using Hindu names to spread hate and create communal disharmony.
However, the targeting of the Miya community in Assam is not limited to the rhetoric of the Sarma-led BJP government. Various nativist Assamese social organizations are also actively involved in the campaign against them.
In Jorhat city, for instance, the hyper-nationalist Assamese organization Bir Lachit Sena accused a person named Azad Choudhary of being an “illegal Bangladeshi” who was allegedly occupying government-owned land through fraudulent means. The organization's protest gained traction and ultimately led to the demolition of Choudhary's house. This incident underscores the direct and often impactful role of such groups in the broader narrative and actions against the Miya community in Assam.
Mass evictions
The continuous targeting of Miya communities often leads to evictions, as they are repeatedly branded as illegal encroachers and Bangladeshis. Since Himanta Biswa Sarma became Chief Minister in 2021, such evictions have increased significantly.
These operations frequently render people homeless, denying them access to shelter, food, and hygiene. They are impacting families with school-age children and infants, undermining their dignity and future opportunities. The evictions also provoke protests from those asserting their rights, leading to clashes between police forces and protestors, sometimes with deadly consequences.
In 2021, for instance, the Assam government launched the “Garukhuti Agriculture Project” in the Dhalpur area of the Darrang district, aiming to clear land to create agricultural opportunities for Indigenous youth, which resulted in the eviction of nearly 2,050 Miya families.
The government stated that these individuals were illegally occupying the project area. During the first phase of the evictions in September 2021, the administration encountered significant protests. A scuffle ensued between protestors and the police, and the police opened fire on the protestors, killing 28-year-old farmer Mianal Haq and 12-year-old Sheikh Farid. The government's promise to resettle these families with new land was only partially fulfilled, with many receiving significantly less land than they previously occupied.
One evictee named Sohabuddin Ahmed told Al Jazeera:
