Take suo motu cognizance of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma's 'hate speeches': Former civil servants urge Supreme Court

In an open letter, they say President Droupadi Murmu should intervene to 'suitably advise' Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sarma to abide by their oaths to the Constitution and the dignity of their respective offices

New Delhi: Nearly 100 former civil servants have criticised Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his "dog whistle" against Bengali Muslims in the poll-bound State and urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance of his "hate speeches".

Under the aegis of 'Constitutional Conduct Group' (CCG), they said in an open letter that President Droupadi Murmu should intervene "before it is too late" to "suitably advise" Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sarma to abide by their oaths to the Constitution and the dignity of their respective offices.

"Even judging by the ugliness of the hate speeches being used by politicians all over the country these days, particularly when States are facing elections, the nastiness of the recent speech of Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam, comes as a shock to citizens of this country," they said.

The open letter was signed by 84 former bureaucrats, including Shivshankar Menon, Wajahat Habibullah, G K Pillai, K Sujatha Rao, M G Devasahayam, Aruna Roy, Julio Ribeiro, Vappala Balachandran and Meeran C Borwankar.

According to Sarma's understanding, they said, there are no Bengali Muslims in India who are Indian citizens, or legitimate residents of Assam, and all such people should be thrown out of the country.

In a "hateful exhortation", they said, he calls upon the public to "harass Bengali Muslims — Miyas, to use his term — to such an extent that they are forced to leave Assam as well as the country".

"He has encouraged the public to do all manner of wrongful things to trouble the Bengali Muslims in Assam, and has assured them that the Assam police would protect them in their wrongdoing. The people of Assam are well aware that all the Bengali Muslims resident in Assam are not Bangladeshis who have illegally entered the country," they said.

"But when there is such a dog whistle from none other than the Chief Minister of the State, and in the hate-filled atmosphere that prevails in India, today, one can never be sure of the repercussions. By repeatedly making the allegation that Bengali Muslims in Assam are intruders who have stolen the jobs of the Assamese, the Chief Minister is planting seeds of doubt in the minds of people, seeds which may result in major riots and killings," they said.

They said Sarma remains undeterred even after facing a backlash across the country with cases started against him by conscientious citizens for his "poisonous speech".

"We are not surprised that the Central government has neither taken note of these incidents to disturb the public peace and order, nor acted to dissuade Sarma from making such provocative utterances," they said, urging the intervention of the Supreme Court and the President.