Assam is Being Converted into Another
Hindutva Lab for Hate Experiment

Home Minister Amit Shah’s address to his party workers at Guwahati this week, gives the signal that the ruling party is now planning to convert the northeastern state of Assam into another laboratory for their Hindutva hate campaigns for political gains. This is a game they had perfected in his home state of Gujarat from the late nineties, with disastrous consequences for the country and its minorities who were singled for the vicious attacks resulting in a genocide-like situation that cost many lives. Those wounds are yet to be healed and the Muslims in Gujarat are living in fear, still waiting for justice.

Gujarat was the centrepiece of Hindutva experiments in hatred and violence in the West Coast, which offered much political gains for the BJP and the architects of these experiments, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, who became the topmost power centres in the country. But the 2024 general elections proved that after two decades of political manipulations that kept them in power, their hold on the general public is now on the wane. They now realise that the Indian people are finally able to see through their stratagems to hoodwink the people and carry on with their divisive agenda.

It is possible that the ongoing Assembly elections in Bihar and the forthcoming elections in Bengal, Assam, etc, might prove how the earth is slipping from below their feet and how unstable is their political hold based on religious and divisive agendas, with no real benefits for the majority of our people. What the people want is economic development, equality and better opportunities for their children and a dignified life. However, what they have received is a relentless crescendo of hateful speeches, violence and a country on the verge of economic collapse for most of its citizens including the farmers, Adivasis, Dalits, minorities like Muslims and other underprivileged people for whom India’s much touted growth story is simply a mirage. The Indian people also realise that through electoral manipulations, a large number of citizens from these social segments are now being disenfranchised. Naturally, a strong wind of resentment and political resistance is building up across the country, which might put the ruling elites into serious trouble.

It is in these circumstances that the Sangh Parivar strategists are planning for another dose of divisive politics, and this time it is being implemented from the eastern parts of the country, with Assam as its new laboratory, where a consistent campaign on “infiltrators” entering the country from our neighborhoods is launched. In his Guwahati speech, Amit Shah has been harping on the theme of “infiltrators who are encroaching our lands.” He said huge chunks of land in Assam have been encroached upon by infiltrators and the BJP controlled state government is now busy evicting such alien people.

This has been the constant refrain of the BJP leaders and government officials in recent times, and the consequences of such deeply disturbing campaign are seen in many parts of the country where Bengali migrants are being targeted as aliens. It is sad that the Central Government and its Home Minister, responsible for taking measures to protect and seal the borders, are now converting their own failures into a matter of cheap and divisive campaigns. The Home Minister should be aware that millions of Bengali migrants are working in other parts of the country and people from many poorer parts are also going to better off parts looking for opportunities and jobs for survival. There are such migrants in every part of India, and they cannot be illtreated and harassed, because there may be some people from countries like Nepal and Bangladesh entering India for economic or other reasons. The present moves by the Home Minister, as is indicated by his speech, to single out the Bengali nationality as an alien people would seriously impact upon our nation’s unity and he should be careful while stoking such fire, which might end up in a dangerous conflagration.

Elyas Muhammad Thumbe
National General Secretary
Social Democratic Party of India