Two Miya Muslims attacked in Assam’s Baksa district amid ethnic tensions : Valley Vision

Amid calls for economic blockade against Miya Muslims and diktats against them to leave ethnic Assamese-dominant areas, two Muslims were attacked in the Baksa district in the Bodoland Territorial Region.

The two Muslim men were assaulted when they went to their usual business. A group of five men beat ice cream seller Babidul Islam at around 5 PM In the police complaint filed at Bahbari police outpost under Gobardhana police station, Babidul accused the assailants tried to strangulate him.

Babidul was selling ice cream near Manash National Park when the men approached him and checked his Indian identity. “For being a Muslim, they scolded me with various slurs and tried to strangulate me”, said Babidul.

“They also took away my all day’s earnings, around Rs 5000”, he accused. He was saved by local Bodo women when they intervened in the matter and stopped the men from beating the youth.

Later at around 8 pm, Abdul Salam, a bamboo trader was also beaten when he went to get the bamboo he had bought from Chomua Gaati village. 

“I have bought bamboo groves there. But when I went to get the bamboo that evening, they said I deliberately went to get the bamboo late as we Miya commit rape and steal at night,” Abdul said.

Fearful of losing his investment in bamboo groves, Abdul did not want to say anything further. “If I cannot go there, I will lose all the money I have given to people there”, he said.

The assailants allegedly told Abdul whether he did not know the Miya Muslims were asked to leave Upper Assam districts. 

Saijuddin Ahmed, the central organising secretary of All BTC Minority Student’s Union (ABMSU)— the minority student group, who was involved in registering a police complaint said, “Abdul is scared. He is apprehensive that he might be attacked. That is why he did not even want to file the complaint”.

With the help of ABMSU, the victims of ethnic hate lodged their complaints. Subsequently, Baksa police have arrested at least three accused in the matter.

“The arrested persons for the two incidents that happened 4-5 km apart are the same. It seems that these attacks are being carried out to further instigate the ethnic and religious tensions in Assam”, said activist Saijuddin.

Baksa police have booked the three accused for hate-mongering. 

As a sense of fear prevails among the Bengali-origin Muslims, minority groups say chief minister Sarma’s provocative and pejorative statements against Miyas Muslims have peaked to a level where ordinary people can easily be made part of mob against the marginalised group.

“He has been vilifying Muslims and connecting everything that goes bad in the state to Miyas. That is why we are seeing the diktats of ousting Muslims from Upper Assam and  incidents of attacks even in the BTR region” said Taison Hussain president of ABMSU which is actively working to promote communal harmony in Assam 

The All Assam Minority Student’s Union (AAMSU) accused CM Sarma of deliberately and purposefully polarising the ethnic communities following the Congress’s massive win in Dhubri against AIUDF supremo Badaruddin Ajmal and Gaurav Gogoi in Kaliabor parliamentary constituencies.

“Following the defeat of Ajmal in Dhubri and the big win by Gaurav Gogoi even after delimitation in Assam, minority and majority communities defeated communal politics. Dr Sarma realised that Congress was getting stronger in upper Assam at the cost of BJP. So, if has to win the 2026 assembly polls, he must continue Hindu-Muslim communal politics. That is the only way for him” Ainuddin Ahmed, advisor of the minority students’ body said.

Ittehad Front’s Assam president Nur Islam said, “For the crime of one individual, the entire community is labelled as criminals. Is it not crucifying all for the fault of one? The law should punish the criminal. But what the chief minister is doing is unleashing the popular prejudices against one particular group resulting in hate crimes.”

Incidents of hate crimes in Assam started surfacing after the rape of a 14-year-old girl in Nagaon district’s Dhing area on 22 August. Protests broke out in Nagaon demanding justice for the victim. The arrested accused, a 24-year-old Muslim youth, the in rape case died in police custody when he reportedly “tried to escape by jumping into a pond”.

Soon, the whole Miya Muslim community living and working— mostly as labourers— in Upper Assam districts, found themselves at the receiving end of protests against them. Groups representing the ethnic Assamese-speaking population started a miya kheda abhijan (drive out Miya Muslims from Upper Assam) issuing diktats to leave the region within seven days.

At least 12 Muslim construction workers were beaten in the Nazira area in Sivasagar district amid the ethno-religious tensions on 24 August.