Himanta Biswa Sarma says polarisation no longer needed in Assam, claims to have 'controlled the menace'
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, speaking at The Indian Express Idea Exchange, said that polarisation is no longer necessary in the state. He claimed to have 'controlled that menace,' adding that now people feel confident that the government does not favour only one community.
Sarma, who led the BJP to a decisive victory in the May 2024 state elections, acknowledged that a 'polarising figure' was earlier needed to restore confidence among Assam's indigenous population, including Assamese Muslims. 'People wanted a polarising figure… and I served that purpose,' he said.
Responding to a query on whether his moderate face would be seen in the coming years, Sarma stated: 'I do not think polarisation is required in Assam. I have controlled that menace. Now nobody can put a finger on Assamese people. No one has the guts to encroach on the land of temples, nobody has the guts to pick up a girl without her consent. Now people have been streamlined, people have become law abiding. Once everyone abides by the law, I do not need to talk every day. I have to speak whenever it is required.'
On the ongoing conflict in Manipur, Sarma said it was a dispute between communities—Kukis, Meiteis, and Nagas—and could only be resolved through inter-community dialogue, not outside intervention. 'We can restore law and order. But we cannot sit two brothers and settle their dispute… You cannot put a rifle on them and say if you don’t resolve the issues before 6 o’clock tomorrow we will do something. We can maintain law and order but a solution has to come from the community,' he added.
Sarma, a former Congress member who left the party in 2015, also criticised Rahul Gandhi for pushing the Congress away from centrist politics towards a Left-influenced, caste-focused line. He alleged that Congress' slogans now resemble those of the All India Students' Association (AISA) and that Gandhi's focus on caste is 'borrowed' from JNU and the Left. 'Congress never asked questions like ‘what’s your caste?’ Rahul Gandhi asked this to a reporter. He typically borrowed this from the JNU and from the Left… This is typical Left style: what he says is not practiced in their families,' Sarma said.
The Assam Chief Minister's remarks come amid his known reputation for controversial statements, but he maintained that his approach has brought law and order and restored confidence among indigenous communities.
