Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma speaks to the media in Guwahati on January 25, 2026.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday (January 25, 2026) said only ‘Miyas’ (a pejorative for Bengali-speaking Muslims) are being evicted from the State.
“Only ‘Miyas’ are evicted in Assam. How can Assamese people be evicted,” Mr. Sarma told reporters here, dismissing reports that anti-encroachment drives will be undertaken in the hills surrounding Guwahati.
‘Miya’ is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and the non-Bengali-speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance.
Mr. Sarma maintained that it was the media which was spreading rumours of possible eviction in Guwahati hills. “Till election, when not a single eviction will happen, then people residing in the hills will understand that it was the media which gave them tension,” he claimed.
Elections for the 126-member Assembly are due in the first half of this year, in which the BJP-led coalition will seek a third straight term.
“The BJP has been in power in the State for 10 years now. Where has eviction been carried out in Guwahati hills,” Mr. Sarma asked, adding that the government was working on providing land rights to the people residing on the hills.
He, however, maintained that eviction notice will be given to any Muslim immigrant residing in the hills.
Accusing the Congress of pandering to the Muslim community, Mr. Sarma said, “The Congress has said that it has received 750 applications from prospective candidates seeking party ticket. But what they didn’t say is that 600 of these applicants are ‘Miyas’. Only about 120-130 applicants are Hindus.”
He said the Congress has “become a threat to our religion, culture, and the more convincingly we defeat them, the more we can save our state and ‘jati’ (community).”
Mr. Sarma said that the details of State Congress president Gaurav Gogoi’s alleged links to Pakistan will be made public very soon. “I want to reveal it by January 31. But since there is the Union Budget on February 1, there might be a delay by a day or two,” he added.
The BJP has been attacking Lok Sabha MP Gogoi over his wife’s alleged connection with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI. The State government had formed a Special Investigation Team to probe a case of alleged interference of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who was claimed to have links with Mr. Gogoi’s British wife Elizabeth Colburn, in India’s internal affairs.
Published – January 25, 2026 06:57 pm IST
