Building Mosques, Occupying Indigenous Peoples Land: Assam CM Sarma On Minorities Vs Satra Row
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday warned minorities especially Muslims to not create a conflict with Satras, indigenous monastic institution, by building mosques or consuming beef near the religious place. He also advised minorities to not try to occupy Satra land and respect the traditions and customs of the indigenous people and not try to create a conflict.
"In the context of Assam, if we reach a non-negotiable point between the Satra institutions and the newly arriving people, then naturally, the newcomers should step back. But instead, they have started doing the very things near the Satras that the Satras themselves do not accept. One major element of this is the issue of cow meat, and a major example is the construction of a masjid directly near a Satra. When cow meat is consumed near a Satra, and the sound of Azaan from a masjid overlaps with the Namghar of the Satra, it becomes a non-negotiable point," said the CM.
Sarma said that if minorities consume cow meat, but will do so 10 kilometres away, there comes conflict but consensus is possible. He said Assamese people retreat if conflict is created by minorities as they do not know how to fight as they don't want conflict.
Minorities should respect the traditions and customs of the indigenous people and not try to create a conflict by building Masjids near Satras and occupying Satra land.
Dhubri, Barpeta, etc. are an example of such templates and we should not let this be repeated. pic.twitter.com/94qSPcO6j9 — Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) June 10, 2025
Satras are unique monastic institutions in Assam, India, deeply associated with the Ekasarana Dharma (also known as Neo-Vaishnavism), a monotheistic devotional movement started by the 15th-16th century saint-reformer Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva.
The Satra Aayog formed for reviewing and assessing the problems of the Satra lands in Assam, submitted its final report to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa at a programme held at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati on Monday.
It may be noted that the Aayog formed on November 24, 2021, with MLA Pradip Hazarika as its Chairman and MLAs Mrinal Saikia and Rupak Sarma as its members, visited around 126 satras, examined the existing problems there and submitted the report, giving several recommendations.
Chief Minister Sarma also said that satras play an important role in the socio-cultural and spiritual life of the state. Moreover, he said that Srimanta Sankardeva, by introducing neo-Vaishnavism, took a crucial role in setting up the satras to discuss and preach cultural and spiritual values across the state.
He said that it would be very difficult for the government to empower all the 922 satras, therefore, appealed to the people of Assam to work collectively to protect the satra lands and help them work for the mission they were established.
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