Only Bengali migrant Muslims being evicted from Assam: Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday, January 25, 2026, said that only ‘Miyas’ (a derogatory term for Bengali-speaking Muslims) have been evacuated from the State.

“Only ‘Miyas’ are being evacuated in Assam. How can the people of Assam be evacuated?” Mr. Sarma told reporters here. he said and denied reports that anti-encroachment operations would be carried out in the hills surrounding Guwahati.

‘Miya’ is actually a derogatory term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and non-Bengali-speaking people often describe them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists in the community have begun to adopt the term as a gesture of defiance.

Mr. Sarma alleged that the media was spreading rumors of possible evacuation in the Guwahati hills. “By the time of the election, when there is not a single eviction, people living in the hills will realize that it is the media that is making them tense,” he said.

Elections to the 126-member Assembly will be held in the first half of this year and the BJP-led coalition will seek a third consecutive term.

“BJP has been in power in the state for 10 years. Where were the evictions in Guwahati hills?” Mr. Sarma asked, adding that the government was trying to provide land rights to people living in the hills.

However, he claimed that evacuation notices would be given to Muslim immigrants residing in the hills.

Accusing the Congress of pandering to the Muslim community, Mr. Sarma said, “Congress said it received 750 applications from potential candidates seeking party tickets. But they did not say that 600 of these applications were ‘Miyas’. Only around 120-130 applications were Hindu.”

He said the Congress “has become a threat to our religion and culture and the more convincingly we defeat them, the more we can save our state and our ‘jati’ (community).”

Details of State Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi’s alleged links with Pakistan will be made public very soon, Mr. Sarma said. “I want to announce it by January 31. However, since the Union Budget is on February 1, there may be a delay of a day or two,” he added.

The BJP has been attacking Lok Sabha MP Gogoi over his wife’s alleged links with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI. The state government had set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the alleged interference in India’s internal affairs by Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who was allegedly linked to Mr Gogoi’s British wife Elizabeth Colburn.