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The Hindu
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Language ‘test' for Assam's Bengal-origin Muslims
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said people who seek to replace Assamese with Bengali in the electoral rolls would help the government get an idea about the number of 'foreigners' in the State. He warned a section not to 'blackmail' the government with language after a minority student leader said Bengal-origin Muslims would list Bengali, and not Assamese, as their mother tongue in public documents. 'Nobody is affected by the threats ahead of every Census about listing this or that language. They (some elements) were made to believe that if more people do not speak Assamese, the language will become extinct. But the Assamese language will remain where it is,' the Chief Minister said on Thursday (July 10, 2025). Mainuddin Ali, a leader of the All BTC Minority Students' Union, had made the controversial remarks during a protest on July 9 against the ongoing eviction drives in parts of western Assam. BTC expands to the Bodoland Territorial Council. Mr Ali said that Assamese will no longer be the 'language of the majority in Assam' if the Bengal-origin Muslims do not list Assamese as their mother tongue during the Census exercise. 'We, the Bengal-origin Muslims, clearly state that we will not write Assamese as our mother tongue in this Census. We will remove the Assamese language. The Assamese language as well as the Assamese community will become a minority,' he said. The Assam Sahitya Sabha, the State's largest literary body, and the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) slammed him for the remarks. 'As long as the Assam Sahitya Sabha exists, the Assamese people will not become a minority in Assam. They know how they can protect themselves. We reject the threat,' the Sabha's president, Basanta Kumar Goswami, said. AASU president Utpal Sarma said that the Assamese people had for long faced linguistic blackmail. 'Some people view it as a favour that they write Assamese as their mother tongue. They want the Assamese people to stoop to them. We have to put an end to this,' he said. 'Whether somebody writes Assamese as their mother tongue or not, the indigenous people of Assam are going to become a minority in Assam, maybe in the next one, two, or three decades,' Mr. Sarma warned. The strong reactions made the All BTC Minority Students' Union suspend Mr. Ali from the organisation with immediate effect.
Time of India
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Assamese will remain official language: Sarma after census row
1 2 3 Guwahati: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said Assamese will remain the official language in Assam, despite threats from a section of the minority community to list Bengali as their mother tongue during the census. He added that the Assamese language would continue to thrive and is not reliant on migrant Muslims. Sarma was responding to an announcement made on Wednesday by All BTC Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) leader Mainuddin Ali, who declared that Bengal-origin Muslims in Assam would record Bengali as their mother tongue in the upcoming census. This declaration has sparked a controversy in the state. The chief minister reacted firmly, asserting that Assamese will legally remain the official language of Assam, even though leaders like Ali have pledged to diminish the status of the Assamese language to that of a minority language. However, Sarma said such actions, as stated by the ABMSU leader, would assist in identifying illegal Bangladeshis residing in Assam. "A wrong notion is spread during the census making the language, which is spoken, important. Then a section of minority people starts blackmailing that they won't speak in Assamese. If you speak in Bengali at home, why would you give wrong information of speaking in Assamese? Giving wrong information during the census is a crime," said Sarma. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giá vàng đang tăng mạnh trong năm 2025 — Các nhà giao dịch thông minh đã tham gia IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo He said 70% of the people of char (riverine) areas, which are home to a large number of Bengal-origin Muslims, mentioned Bengali as their mother tongue in the previous census too. He said only 30 percent write Assamese as their mother tongue and among them, the number of Assamese-speaking indigenous Muslims (Desi, Goria, Moria, and Jolha) is the highest. "Immigrant Muslims have always written Bengali as their mother tongue. This is nothing new to give threats," Sarma said, affirming that eviction drives will continue in Assam. Speaking at a protest programme in Kokrajhar on Wednesday against eviction in minority areas in Dhubri district, Ali, working president of ABMSU, said Assamese will become a "language of minority" in the state if Bengal-origin Muslims mention Bengali as their mother tongue in the census. "During the census this time, we will clearly say we won't write Assamese (as mother tongue). We will erase the Assamese language and if we do so, Assamese will be reduced to a language of minority," Ali said. "We, the Bengal-origin Muslims, clearly say that we won't write Assamese. The Assamese language and Assamese community will be reduced to a minority. The way in which the BJP govt has unleashed atrocities on Muslims, we are surprised," Ali added. He also criticised CM Himanta Biswa Sarma for the eviction where hundreds of houses have been razed down in Dhubri while clearing govt lands from encroachment.
NDTV
10-07-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
"Will Reveal...": Himanta Sarma Responds To Leader's Bengali Threat
Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said writing Bengali as the mother tongue in census documents will quantify the number of foreigners living in the state. His comments were in reaction to a statement by All BTC Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) leader Mainuddin Ali, who threatened that all Bengali-speaking Muslims would stop writing Assamese as their mother tongue in the census documents, thereby making the people speaking the state language a minority. "Language cannot be used as a tool for blackmail. In Assam, Assamese is permanent - both as the state and official language. However, if they write Bengali in the census, it will only quantify the number of foreigners in the state," Mr Sarma told reporters here. The ABMSU leader made the statement on Wednesday while speaking to the media during a protest in Kokrajhar against eviction drives in Dhubri a day earlier. Mr Sarma asserted that such threats will not stop eviction drives. "People in the char areas (riverine vegetative islands) have always been writing Bengali as their language. But the indigenous Muslims write Assamese as their language", he said, emphasising Assamese will remain the state language of Assam whether someone writes it in the census documents or not. Cutting across party lines, all political outfits have condemned Mr Ali's statement and demanded his arrest. A case has also been filed against him at Dispur police station in Guwahati.
New Indian Express
10-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Replacing Assamese as mother tongue will help us know the number of foreigners: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
Guwahati: A minority student leader in Assam stirred a hornet's nest with remarks that Bengal-origin Muslims would list Bengali, and not Assamese, as their mother tongue in public documents. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who played his part in securing the classical language status for the Assamese, said language cannot become a tool for 'blackmail.' 'Assamese language is permanent in Assam, as state and official language,' he said. 'Nobody is affected by the threats ahead of every census about listing this or that language. They (some elements) were made to believe if more people do not speak Assamese, the language will become extinct. But the Assamese language will remain where it is,' the chief minister said. He added that if some people seek to replace Assamese with Bengali in the electoral rolls, it will give an idea about the number of 'foreigners' in Assam. Mainuddin Ali, leader of All BTC Minority Students' Union, had made the controversial remarks. During a protest on Wednesday against ongoing eviction drives in parts of lower Assam, he stated if the Bengal-origin Muslims do not list Assamese as their mother tongue in the census exercise, it will no longer be the language of the majority in Assam. 'We, the Bengal-origin Muslims, clearly state that we will not write Assamese as our mother tongue this census. We will remove the Assamese language. The Assamese language as well as the Assamese community will become a minority,' Ali stated.
