GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the demography in the state has come to such a point that Hindus fleeing Muslim-dominated areas is a reality now, leading to a decline in the Hindu population in such areas.
On the second day of the Autumn Session of the Assam Assembly, MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purpakastha raised the issue of rising population due to demographic change in the state. The Chief Minister made this revelation while replying to that.
Amidst a hot and noisy debate between the ruling and the opposition in the house, the Chief Minister said, “According to the 2011 Census report, the population of Assam was 3,12,05,576. Of them, 1,91,80,779 were Hindus; 1,06,79,345 were Muslims, and the rest were others. The percentage of Hindu population was 61.47, and that of Muslims was 34.22. After the independence of India, the percentage of the Muslim population in Assam was 22 percent in 1951. It rose to 24.66 percent in 1961, 24.56 percent in 1971, 28.43 percent in 1991, 30.09 percent in 2001, and 34.33 percent in 2011. Muslim population rose 3–4 percent between 2001 and 2011. The demographic pattern is changing very fast in lower Assam, where a human disaster is in the making. There were some purely Hindu villages in lower Assam. Now those villages are bereft of a Hindu population. For instance, Kalitakuchi in Hajo was purely a Hindu village. The name of the village itself suggests that it was a Hindu village. However, no Hindu population is there in that village now.”
The Chief Minister said, “Apart from birth rates and death rates, another problem that aggravates the situation is Hindus deserting their villages in lower and central Assam. Hindu-Muslim makes a topic for debates nowadays. Nobody can stop me from speaking out. MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed said that he has been providing safeguard to 40 Hindu families in Baghbor. The situation in Assam has come to such a pass that the Assamese people have to seek their security from Sherman Ali Ahmed.”
Targeting the MLAs belonging to the minority community of the Congress and the AIUDF, the Chief Minister said, “Bring back all the Hindus who deserted their native villages. I will provide polling station-wise data in the next Assembly session from where the Hindu people fled. There should be a scientific analysis as to why the Hindus fled their native villages. The population of the Miya Muslim has been on the rise in Golaghat, Dibrugarh, Kamrup Metro, and Lakhimpur districts. Muslims have never fled any district in the state, and that has led to the increase in Muslim population in Hindu areas. On the contrary, due to the desertion of their villages by Hindus in Muslim majority areas, the Muslim population is on the rise in those areas. You need to think if a house committee needs to be formed to ascertain as to why the Hindus desert their villages in Muslim dominated areas.”
The Chief Minister further said, “Any change in the demography will lead to tension, leading to an Assam agitation-like situation. The Muslim leaders need to take responsibility for keeping peace intact. The Muslims need to ensure safety for Hindus in their dominated areas. The Hindus should also reciprocate in the same gesture.”
Stating that infiltration from Bangladesh has increased in the past four to six months into the state, the Chief Minister said, “Third cause of concern is that in the past few months the infiltration of Rohingiyas has increased in Assam and the nation. With the closure of textile industries in Bangladesh, Rohingiyas have been entering India via Tripura and Assam. We have pushed back many Rohingiyas in the past four months.”
CM Sarma said that the state witnessed no communal conflict in the past eight years of BJP rule. There were communal conflicts in the state during the Congress regimes, he said.
He had to face hot debates with the opposition legislators. Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi, MLAs Sherman Ali Ahmed, Abdur Rahim Ahmed, and others opposed some of the statements of the chief minister leading to unruly situations in the house time and again.
At one time, the deputy speaker, Numal Momin, had to suspend MLAs Akhil Gogoi and Sherman Ali Ahmed.
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