Assam CM call to expel ‘Miya Muslims,’ leads to violence against Bengali speaking Muslim Labourers (Sabrang India)

FIR registered against BJP leader for assault on Bengali speaking Muslim labourers and threatens them to leave Assam and Assamese Muslim singer arrested for protest song “Miya Bihu”

Amid calls by Assamese nativist groups for Bengali Muslims to leave eastern Assam districts, a group of labourers from the community were attacked at their workplace in Charaideo district on 24 August 2024/ KAZI SHAROWAR HUSSAIN | Article 14

By sabrangindia  

On August 26, an FIR has been registered against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mayur Borgohain of Charaideo district in eastern Assam for allegations of assaulting and threatening the Bengali-speaking Muslim (Miya Muslims) labourers in the state.

The FIR has been registered under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 for encompassing unlawful assembly, rioting, being armed with deadly weapons, causing hurt, promoting enmity, and criminal intimidation. The workers, hailing from Barpeta district in western Assam, were employed by Borgohain for the construction of a skill development centre in Charaideo.

One of the workers, Rajibul Hoque alleged that despite repeated reminders, Borgohain had not paid the outstanding bill of Rs 15 lakh. On the night of August 24, around 10:30 PM, a group of 14 to 15 masked men, allegedly acting on Borgohain’s orders, forced the workers to kneel and assaulted them with daggers, guns, sticks, and plastic pipes. The attackers threatened to kill the workers and demanded they leave the district without claiming their unpaid wages. Reported The Kashmiriyat.  

Saddam Ahmed who fled from Choraideo district’s Nazira town on the morning of August 25, said that “It is because we are Miya Muslims and they didn’t want to pay our wages that is why they beat us.”  Saddam along with 11 other construction workers spent a harrowing night on 24 August hiding inside a jungle near Dolbagan village in Choraideo district.

“After working the whole day in the scorching heat, we rested like any other day. At around 10:30 pm, some 14 to 15 masked men came to our room and asked us to come out. They came with daggers, swords, s, and pipes,” Saddam recounted the incident.

This story was originally published in sabrangindia.in. Read the full story here.

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