Bangladeshi-origin Miya Muslims may form 40% of Assam’s population by 2027: CM Himanta Sarma

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the population of Bangladeshi-origin Miya Muslims will be 40 percent in the 2027 census.

The Chief Minister said this while addressing the two-day state executive meeting of the BJP on Saturday, adding that nowhere in the world is there a state where the number of indigenous people is going below 60 percent and the number of Bangladeshi-origin Muslims is gradually going above 40 percent.

“When I started politics from the All-Assam Students’ Union (AASU), the number of Bangladeshi-origin Miya Muslims was 21 percent. Their population rose to 31 percent in the 2011 census and now their population is going to be above 40 percent. Days are not far when the future generation of Assamese people will see their population going below 35 percent.”


He added, “They (Bangladesh) often say that northeast India should be cut off and annexed to Bangladesh. They do not need to fight a war to take northeast India. It will automatically go to them once their population crosses 50 percent.”

Saying that even districts like Dibrugarh and Tinsukia have fallen victim to this demographic change, he said he was shocked to see that the highest number of applications from Muslims seeking to procure land belonging to Hindus is in Tinsukia.

Sarma said that recently a Congress spokesperson had demanded that 48 Assembly seats should be reserved for Muslims and that there was no opposition from the Congress. “The BJP demands reserving seats for Assamese people—irrespective of Hindus and Muslims. But Congress demands reservation of seats for Muslims. The Congress is yet to expel him; they can’t, because the whole ecosystem of Congress is dependent on those people.”

He said that the state is currently facing a conflict between two civilizations—one Sanatani civilization, which is an inclusive civilization, and a new civilization of the growing population of Bangladeshi-origin Miya Muslims.

The major difference between these two civilizations, he said, is that unlike the Sanatani civilization, the new civilization is exclusive—for them, religion is above the nation. “The recent developments in Bangladesh are a clear indication of what is going to happen in Assam after another 20 years. In lower Assam and central Assam, every day at least one Hindu girl is becoming a victim of Love Jihad. Every day, one Assamese or Hindu person is selling his land to Muslims and migrating to town areas.”

He said Congress encouraged the infiltration of Bangladeshi-origin Muslims in Assam for appeasement politics and said that it is due to the weak policies of the Congress government in Assam that the number of these Bangladeshi-origin Miya Muslims has grown from 31 percent in the 2011 census.

Bengali-speaking Muslims are often referred to as Miya Muslims. Muslims comprise 34 percent of Assam’s 3.12 crore population, of which 4 percent are indigenous Assamese Muslims and the remaining are mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims.