Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is always the number one enemy of radical Islamists, ever since he assumed the top post in the state in 2021. Social media is full of hate speeches and messages against CM Sarma mostly from Islamist and Urban Naxal accounts. Assam police have acted numerous times against radicals who openly threatened the popular CM on various occasions.
Be it government action against illegal encroachment or action against illegal infiltrations or even during India-Pakistan war, CM Sarma has been a subject of attack by radicals every time. But CM Sarma never reacted on these.
On the 80th Independence Day of Bharat, when CM Sarma was addressing the celebration gathering in Guwahati, Abdul Mutaleb threatened the CM in his Facebook page writing a Pakistan Zindabad slogan. The Islamist wrote, “If someone gives me Rs.1 crore, I will kill CM Himanta Biswa Sarma”. He further wrote Pakistan Zindabaad, Bharat Murdabaad.
Acting swiftly, police intercepted the person as Abdul Mutaleb of Morigaon district. He was arrested immediately, later his father and two more people were arrested in relation to the same death threat to the Assam CM. The arrested were identified as Abdul Khalek, Abu Taleh and Rashidul Islam. A local court in Morigaon sent them to 5 days of police custody. A special team of police are investigating the case in collaboration with CID and STF.
On August 17, another Islamist Mubarak Ali from Nagaon district issued a death threat to the Assam CM through a Facebook comment. Ali, who is an offender of polygamy threatened to kill CM Sarma if somebody offers him Rs. 2 crores. The Pakistani supporter Mubarak Ali wrote Pakistan Zindabaad along with the death threat to the CM. In the initial investigation police found that Ali married several women and for the last two years he has been residing in Kerala. “We are investigating the matter and also trying to locate him as locals claim that he has been in Kerala for the past couple of years”, a senior police official said.
While asked by the reporters about the series of death threats, CM Sarma said that Assam police is capable of providing him security and he is not worried about it. “During the pre-election rallies, there was an intelligence report from Delhi about a serious life threat on me. In fact, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) asked me to cancel my Jana Ashirbaad Yatra.
So it is not new, a section of people is not happy with my working style and obviously I always carry some kind of threat. Assam police will handle it”, CM Sarma said. But the political circle in Dispur is worried. Should the security agencies take it more seriously, or is it under control? The question is why these threats and who wants to kill him?
