Article 14 of the enlightened document that is the Constitution envisages the State’s commitment to equality for all before the law. The said Article is an unambiguous rejection of the vector of partisanship. It is thus strange that the holder of a constitutional position, the chief minister of Assam, should choose to wilfully ignore this stipulation of fairness and equality. Responding to an adjournment motion moved by members of the Opposition on security concerns arising on account of the rape of a young indigenous girl allegedly perpetrated by Bengali Muslim youth, Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that his ideology prompted him to take sides and that he would not allow Miya Muslims — Miya is the pejorative term used to slur this community — to take all of Assam. The remark is shocking not only because Mr Sarma violated the constitutional imperative to act impartially — what else can he mean when he says that he will take sides? — but also because it appears that he is eager to fan the communal flames further. This is a clear instance of a chief minister elected by all of Assam choosing to pursue the path of sectarianism instead of attempting to douse dangerous flames. That the chief minister’s statement was egregious is borne out by the timing of his statement. There is news of tension in the air in Assam after the crime, with threats being made against minorities. The need of the hour is to nip the mischief in the bud. Instead, Mr Sarma weaponised a crime to sow seeds of discord. This though is not the first instance of such mischief-mongering. His wild allegations of a flood jihad or of an imminent demographic shift in Assam in favour of an ethno-religious minority bear evidence of his fondness for the divisive card.
What could make Mr Sarma remember his constitutional obligations is a public — electoral — backlash. But that possibility is unlikely to materialise given the prevailing social fault lines. Would the central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party take Mr Sarma to task? After all, the prime minister talks, albeit periodically, of his commitment to inclusive governance. Any leniency shown to Mr Sharma on the part of the BJP could strengthen suspicions of Narendra Modi being equally hypocritical when it comes to upholding the principle of inclusivity.