Assam CM dragging Supreme Court into his anti-Miya narrative: Gaurav Gogoi

GUWAHATI:

Jorhat MP and Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Saturday (January 31, 2026) said that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma went quiet after being reminded that he was dragging the Supreme Court into his anti-’Miya’ narrative.

Miya, a respectful term elsewhere in India, is a pejorative used often in Assam to mean Bengali-speaking Muslims or people from Bangladesh who entered the country illegally.

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The Chief Minister, on January 29, asserted that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government would continue to cause trouble to the ‘Miya’ and that they did not have the right to vote in Assam. He claimed that his statements were grounded in the observations made by the Supreme Court. He also cited the apex court’s “warning of a silent and demographic invasion of Assam”.

Mr. Gogoi said the Chief Minister had “become quiet” after he publicly raised the issue of contempt of the Supreme Court. He also said the rest of the BJP ran on “rhetoric and screenshots” and ran “the risk of contempt too”.

The Congress MP pointed out that when a court cited a report relied on by a party, it did not make the language of that report the court’s “own words”.

‘Clear case of contempt’

“Attributing it to the Supreme Court is a clear case for contempt,” Mr. Gogoi said, adding that the apex court’s said observation was related to former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s case that led to the scrapping of the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act.

“Dishonesty and shamelessness define Himanta Biswa Sarma’s politics. He has stooped so low that he is misusing the name of the Supreme Court,” he said, alleging that the court’s observations were being twisted to create a misleading narrative.

Mr. Gogoi said that misrepresenting the Supreme Court’s observations was not a minor political lapse but a serious institutional offence, when done by constitutional authorities, and could corrode public trust in the judiciary.

Mr. Sarma, however, counter-attacked by accusing the Congress of being “obsessed” with “Miya” while ignoring the interests and identity of the “Asomiya” (Assamese) people.

He told journalists that the Congress reacted selectively to issues depending on the community involved.

“They react when anyone speaks against the Miya, but they will not comment if someone speaks against the Asomiya,” he said, asserting that the BJP would leave no stone unturned to eject the “illegal immigrants” from Assam.