The day was 31st August 2025. Lakhs of Bengalis flocked to the Rangirkhari point in Assam’s Silchar city to catch a glimpse of Himanta Biswa Sarma. The overwhelming reception, warmth and adulation of the public that the Assamese-speaking Chief Minister received on that particular day remains unprecedented in the State’s history.
It was not just another political roadshow but a moment of reckoning: The long-standing ethnic divide between Assamese Hindus and Bengali Hindus had finally been breached.
Himanta Biswa Sarma had truly emerged as the ‘Mama‘(maternal uncle), not just for the youth of the Assamese-majority Brahmaputra Valley but the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley as well. A few decades ago, such a spectacle was politically impossible and unimaginable.
Few more glimpses pic.twitter.com/8tmnsHWEXL
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) August 31, 2025
A sneak peek into the history
Three events in particular affected Bengali-Assamese relations over the last century, namely, the Partition of Bengal (1905), the Partition of India (1947) and the Bangladesh Liberation War (1971).
Although Bengalis and Assamese share vast similarities in terms of cuisine, language (written script) and culture, mass migration and changing demographics have become the bone of contention between the two ethnic groups.
The events of 1947 and 1971 saw a large displacement of Bengali Hindu refugees into Assam, mostly to avoid religious persecution at the hands of Muslim separatists (first in East Pakistan and later in Bangladesh).
Even after the Bangladesh Liberation War, Bengali Hindu refugees continued to migrate to Assam. This had led to friction with the indigenous Assamese community over land, resource-sharing and representation in politics.
Between the 1950s and the 1980s, the ethnic divide had spiralled out of control, leading to mass violence and language riots.
This was further worsened by vested political parties fanning communal disharmony and exploiting fault lines to divide the Hindu vote into distinct groups: Assamese and Bengali.
Himanta Biswa Sarma decimated politics to divide Assamese and Bengali Hindus
Interestingly, the vested groups appeased the Bengali Muslims from East Pakistan/Bangladesh, who illegally migrated to Assam for economic opportunities and worsened the demographic crisis (caused by them in the first place).
This served as a shrewd election strategy: First, divide Hindus into Assamese and Bengalis by making them fight over language and identity. Second, consolidate the ‘Miya’ (a term used by Bengali Muslims from East Pakistan/ Bangladesh to refer to themselves) vote bank as one bloc to keep winning elections.
As a result, the ethnic tension between Bengali Hindus and Assamese Hindus was kept boiling from time to time through provocative speeches, divisive policies and hateful political rhetoric. All of this changed after the BJP came to power in Assam in 2016, first under the Chief Ministership of Sarbananda Sonowal and then rather aggressively under Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Previously unheard and unseen in Assam politics, an objective approach was undertaken to draw a much-needed distinction between Bengali Hindu refugees (who migrated to the Indian State to flee persecution) and Bengali Muslim infiltrators (who came to Assam for economic opportunities). Through targeted messaging, awareness about the big difference between the two groups and their contribution to demographic change was made crystal clear.
How can someone who came to Assam to protect his religious identity be compared to someone who first created an Islamic nation and then migrated to the Indian State for opportunism? In the spirit of fairness, such a comparison is untenable. The Assamese Hindu community, which was once made to believe by vested political groups that their Bengali Hindu counterpart is somehow their enemy, has now called out the bluff.
Years of political propaganda, aimed at dividing and ruling over the masses, have been decimated under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma. The State and its people are now convinced that there is only one enemy: The illegal immigrant who came to Assam after 24th March 1971 (the cut-off date of the Assam Accord) to reap economic benefits and change the culture of this beautiful Northeastern State.
Bengalis love ‘Mama’
Himanta Biswa Sarma has been vocal in differentiating between infiltrators and refugees. Hindu Bengalis, who lost their ancestral property and centuries of generational wealth to protect their ‘Dharma’, are finally getting their much-deserved recognition.
The Assam CM has repeatedly assured that no Hindu Bengali will be decried as a ‘foreigner’ or subjected to harassment. In September last year, he clarified, “There is no reason to suspect Hindu Bengalis as foreigners, as they have come before 1971. The CAA has no relevance in Assam.”
When the flawed draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published in Assam in 2019 and excluded about 12 lakh Hindu Bengalis, Himanta Biswa Sarma pointed out that the exercise was “fundamentally flawed” and called for a fresh NRC.
Electrifying atmosphere, Absolute frenzy in Bengal’s Dinhata!
— Oxomiya Jiyori 🇮🇳 (@SouleFacts) April 19, 2026
Unstoppable crowds flood the streets just to catch a glimpse of Assam CM Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma 🔥@himantabiswa #BJPInTMCOut#PaltanoDorkarChaiBJPSorkar pic.twitter.com/Q5QrVJq3lp
He has been unabashed about his Hindu identity and has meticulously worked to unite the community across linguistic and ethnic lines in Assam. He has been instrumental in mitigating differences and bringing Assamese Hindus and Bengali Hindus closer.
This explains why ‘Mama’ received a grand welcome in West Bengal ahead of the 2026 Vidhan Sabha election. His speeches were attended by thousands of Bengali voters. Never in the history of the Bengali-speaking State has an Assamese CM been given such a reception by the locals.
Interestingly, Himanta Biswa Sarma also spoke in Bengali to the delight of the locals. A few decades ago, vested groups would have created a political storm in Assam, but these powerless entities couldn’t move a needle this time.
It is due to the Assam CM’s relentless efforts that historical differences between Assamese Hindus and Bengali Hindus have healed, and the State has moved in the direction of permanent reconciliation.
A personal experience in identifying ‘opportunism’
I distinctly remember having a Twitter spat with a Muslim activist, masquerading as an Assamese nationalist, in early 2020. It was related to the rollout of the Citizenship Amendment Act in Assam.
During the course of the online debate, the activist tried to score brownie points by suggesting to his Assamese followers that I came from the ‘other side’ of the border and that they must be wary of me. (Fact: My family migrated to independent India from East Pakistan in 1947).
I was surprised to discover an indigenous Assamese Muslim nationalist for the first time. As such, I decided to look further into his account. When I scrolled through his Twitter timeline, I found that he had shared multiple articles decrying government action against illegal Rohingya infiltrators in Assam.
And that made one thing clear: The activist was advocating to keep illegal Rohingyas in Assam on one hand (for the virtue of Ummah) and berating a 2nd generation Bengali Hindu migrant on the other hand (by posing as an ‘Assamese nationalist’).
Isn’t this fascinating? A wolf in sheep’s clothing, championing his religious ideology while playing the ethnic card. But that was 6 years ago.
As history would have it, the political propaganda of such activists would be exposed in no time today. Because Himanta Biswa Sarma has left no scope of ambiguity in determining and making one thing clear – Who belongs in Assam and who doesn’t?
