Overview

• Sarma branded the TMC’s portrayal of his remarks a “desperate ploy” designed to protect migrants from Bangladesh and weaken Assam’s demographic safeguards
• He reiterated that all bona fide citizens of Assam, including those who speak Bengali, support the government’s uncompromising stand against illegal Muslim immigration
• The chief minister explained that recording Bengali as a mother tongue in census forms was meant to expose the number of non-citizens in the state
• His rebuttal followed All BTC Minority Students’ Union leader Mainuddin Ali’s threat that Bengali-speaking Muslims would stop declaring Assamese as their mother tongue in the census
• The TMC had earlier quipped that singing India’s Bengali-written national anthem and song might render Sarma an “illegal Bangladeshi”