Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 12 (HBTV): All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal on Wednesday called for the immediate arrest of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma following the circulation of a controversial video allegedly depicting the CM pointing a gun at members of the Muslim community.
Speaking in a self-recorded video, Ajmal condemned what he described as continuous hate speeches against a community over the past six months and referred to a recent video allegedly showing Sarma pointing a gun at Muslims. He urged the court to bar the Chief Minister from contesting elections and to order his immediate arrest.
‘The way these hate speeches have been continuously given against a community for the last six months, and just two days ago, it was shown that Himanta Biswa Sarma is pointing a gun at some people from the Muslim community. The court should order that he should not contest elections, and he should be arrested immediately and sent to jail so that he, too, comes to his senses. He does not deserve to stay in his chair even for a day,’ he said.
The remarks come amid criticism over a video that surfaced on social media on February 7. The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) lodged a complaint with Dispur Police Station on Tuesday, alleging that content shared via the official BJP Assam X handle was provocative and communal.
The video allegedly showed Sarma symbolically firing at members of the Muslim community at point-blank range.
According to the complaint, the overlaid text in the content included phrases such as ‘foreigner free Assam’, ‘No mercy’, ‘Why did you not go to Pakistan?’ and ‘There is no forgiveness to Bangladeshis’, which it claimed targeted the state’s Bengal-origin Muslims, often derogatorily labelled as ‘Miyas’ or ‘Bangladeshis’.
APCC leaders Sibamoni Bora and Diganta Bauman urged the police to register a case under relevant sections of penal law and take necessary action, citing the potential of the video to disrupt communal harmony in Assam.
On Tuesday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) moved the Supreme Court seeking directions against the alleged discriminatory remarks by the Assam Chief Minister against the Muslim community. Advocate Nizam Pasha requested an urgent hearing before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, who observed, ‘The problem is, when elections come, part of it is fought in the Supreme Court. That is the problem. We will see,’ indicating that the court would examine the matter.
Meanwhile, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi also filed a complaint with Hyderabad City Police, describing the video as ‘genocidal hate speech’ and demanding criminal action.
According to the complaint, the video was uploaded on February 7 from the official X account of the Assam BJP and was taken down a day later, though it continues to circulate on social media. Owaisi stated that law enforcement agencies are constitutionally bound to act suo motu in cases of hate speech, even without a formal complaint.
Responding to Owaisi’s complaint over the now-deleted video, the Assam Chief Minister said he had no objection to being arrested and maintained that he stands by his remarks against Bangladeshi infiltrators.
‘I am ready to go to jail, what can I do? I do not know anything about any video. If he has filed a case against me, arrest me; what objection do I have? I have no objection. But I stand by my words, I am against Bangladeshi infiltrators and I will continue to be against them,’ the Chief Minister said.
(ANI)