Assam CM sniffs Pakistan-linked destabilisation design

GUWAHATI

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has accused activists such as Harsh Mander and Prashant Bhushan, the Congress party, and the Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind have been working with elements from Bangladesh and Pakistan to weaken the State.

He said that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government was tracking the movement of certain individuals from Delhi, who were touring Assam to execute a destabilisation plan.

“Harsh Mander and Prashant Bhushan have been visiting different parts of the State since yesterday (August 23, 2025). Another group, comprising Jawahar Sircar, Wajahat Habibullah, and Fayaz Shaheen, is visiting different districts of lower (western) Assam. They met only the minority community and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders,” Mr. Sarma told journalists on the sidelines of an event in eastern Assam’s Margherita.

Most of the Delhi-based activists were replicating the agenda they followed during the exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC), he said.

“They succeeded in making the NRC a failure, but our government has kept a watchful eye on them to ensure that they do not succeed this time,” he said.

“Congress, Jamaat-e-Islam Hind, Prashant Bhushan, Harsh Mander, and some elements from Pakistan and Bangladesh are very active to weaken Assam. We Assamese and Indians have to stay united to defeat this conspiracy,” the Chief Minister said.

The Assam government has been under fire from Opposition political parties and some organisations for allegedly singling out Bengali-speaking Muslims, pejoratively referred to as ‘Miyas’, during drives to clear encroachment on vast swathes of forestlands, wetlands, designated grazing reserves, and government revenue lands.

The Chief Minister said a Delhi-based team of activists has been camping in Assam after the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind demanded his dismissal on Saturday. “The sole aim of this team is to paint the lawful evictions as a humanitarian crisis. This is nothing but a planned move to weaken our fight against illegal encroachers,” he said.

“We are alert and firm—no propaganda or pressure will stop us from protecting our land and culture,” the Chief Minister posted on social media platform X.