Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday, said he would repost a controversial video showing him symbolically firing at two Muslim men, adding that the updated version would label them as “Bangladeshis”.
The video was initially shared on February 7 by the Assam unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party. It combined footage of Sarma handling rifles with artificial intelligence-generated visuals depicting two Muslim men as targets.
Text displayed in the video included slogans such as “Foreigner-free Assam”, “No mercy”, “Why did you not go to Pakistan?” and “There is no forgiveness to Bangladeshis”. The clip was later deleted following criticism on social media.
Opposition parties, including the Indian National Congress’s Assam unit and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, lodged complaints with the police against Sarma and the BJP over the video. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India also moved the Supreme Court of India seeking action.
Speaking at the Panchayat Aaj Tak event, Sarma said the video itself was “correct” but should have clearly identified the men as “Bangladeshi”.
When told that even undocumented migrants or Bangladeshi citizens could not be shot, the chief minister clarified that the firing shown in the video was only symbolic.
“To prevent Bangladeshis from infiltrating into Assam, the Assam chief minister will have to shoot at them symbolically,” he said.
Sarma further claimed that the video had been removed because it did not mention the word “Bangladeshi”, which he said made it “legally and constitutionally wrong”.
“However, we will correct it and post it again,” he added, noting that the revised video would be uploaded from his personal social media account rather than the BJP’s state unit account.
The remarks come ahead of the Assam Legislative Assembly election, expected to be held in April.
Earlier, Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia had said the video was deleted as it was “unauthorised” and “immature”. One of the four co-convenors of the party’s state social media cell was also removed from his position following the controversy.
Saikia had also stated that the party was concerned about the issue of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in Assam, though it did not support targeting Muslims with violence.
Sarma had earlier told reporters that neither he nor the BJP were against Assamese Muslims but were opposed to what he described as “Bangladeshi Muslims” or “Miya Muslims”.
In Assam, the term “Miya” has often been used as a derogatory reference to Bengali-origin Muslims, many of whom are accused by critics of being undocumented migrants from Bangladesh. While historically used as an honorific among South Asian Muslims, the term has in recent years been reclaimed by sections of the community as a self-identifier for Muslims whose families migrated to Assam during the colonial period.
In recent weeks, Sarma has also made several controversial remarks about Miya Muslims, including claiming it was his responsibility to “make them suffer” and urging BJP workers to file applications seeking removal of their names from electoral rolls.
However, in February, the Supreme Court of India declined to entertain petitions seeking the registration of a first information report against the chief minister for alleged hate speech targeting Muslims.