Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma states Miya-Muslims arriving before 1951 are indigenous, not 'unknown' people.
He insists opposition to certain Miyas has no communal or religious angle and stays within legal ambit.
Sarma highlights 95% new police recruits and 92% Grade 3-4 jobs filled by locals, with no 'unknown' persons appointed.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma clarified on Saturday that not all Miya-Muslims qualify as "unknown" people, specifying that those who arrived before 1951 are considered indigenous, as the state gears up for assembly elections in the coming months.
According to PTI, Sarma emphasised there was no "communal or religious" aspect to his stance against certain Miyas. "All Miya-Muslims are not 'osinaki' (unknown) people. There are those who came before 1951 and they are indigenous. The AASU and Justice (Retd) Biplab Sharma Committee have also accepted it," Sarma said, talking to reporters on the sidelines of a government programme here.
The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) led the six-year anti-infiltration agitation, which ended with the signing of the Assam Accord in August 1985. PTI reported that the Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sharma Committee was set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2019 to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which provides constitutional, legislative, and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve, and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity, and heritage of the Assamese people.
Sarma reiterated that his opposition to Miyas was "not a communal thing and is not related to religion". "I speak within the ambit of law," he said, in an apparent reference to his recent comments against the Bengali-speaking Muslims and how they will have to face "trouble" till he remains in power.
'Miya' is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and non-Bengali-speaking people often identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance.
Reported PTI, the chief minister also stated that 95 per cent of the new recruits in the state police force and 92 per cent in Grade 3 and 4 government jobs are "our children". "No unknown person has been recruited," he asserted.
"During the last five years, our administration has worked for the people in an unprecedented manner. No government has been able to work with such courage. This is the first government which is not afraid of anything," Sarma added.
(With inputs from PTI)
