Himanta Biswa Sarma targets Muslim reporter for his religious identity during press interaction
This happened after the journalist asked the Assam chief minister about hills allegedly being cut in his constituency of Jalukbari.
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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday targeted a reporter for his Muslim identity after he asked the Bharatiya Janata Party leader about hills allegedly being cut in Mandakata in the politician’s Jalukbari Assembly constituency.
Sarma was speaking to reporters in Guwahati about his allegations from earlier this month that Mahbubul Hoque, the chancellor of the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya, was responsible for flash floods in Guwahati because of deforestation and hill-cutting carried out to build the university campus.
Hoque, a Bengali Muslim from Assam, owns the Education Research and Development Foundation, which runs the university. Several experts and Guwahati residents have said that there is no basis for the BJP leader’s claim that the university was behind the floods in Guwahati.
It was in this context that the journalist on Wednesday asked Sarma about hills being cut in his constituency. Responding to the query, the chief minister asked: “Why are you equating USTM [University of Science and Technology Meghalaya] and Mandakata? Why are you all trying so hard to save USTM?”
Sarma then asked the reporter his name.
The journalist, who works at a local news website, introduced himself as Shah Alam.
To this, Sarma said: “You people Shah Alam and USTM’s Mahbubul Hoque, the way you all have connected things, will we even...
