More than 40 leading citizens, including academicians, doctors, authors and retired bureaucrats, have urged the Gauhati High Court to take suo motu cognisance of recent statements by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma against a particular community. They maintained that "silence or inaction against constitutional transgressions" could lead to eroding the "moral authority of the Constitution itself". 'Miya' is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam and the non-Bengali speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. "The brazen hate speech of the Assam chief minister is prejudicial to national integration and directly promotes enmity between different groups on grounds of religion," it further said. The leading citizens also urged the court's intervention to "uphold public confidence in secular constitutional governance and the rule of law".

Source: The Telegraph February 06, 2026 11:53 UTC