Assembly elections are scheduled for Assam in 2026. The Election Commission has completed all preparations for the elections and can announce them at any time. In anticipation of the elections, various political parties have already begun their efforts to win the elections in Assam. In particular, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has revealed several facts during the election campaign and has called for the formation of an SIT to gather sufficient information and provide it to the Indian Home Ministry to alert them of an international conspiracy to destabilize India in Assam.
While these statements by Himanta Biswa Sarma may be intended to galvanize people in favor of her party, their importance in voting for national security remains undeniable.
Assam has a long and glorious history.
During the Mahabharata period, Assam was known as Pragjyotish and later as Kamarupa. This is also mentioned in the Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta.
The Ahom people, led by Sukapha, entered Assam in the 13th century. The Ahom dynasty ruled Assam from 1228 to 1826 AD.
Lachit Borphukan defended Assam’s independence by defeating the Mughals in the Battle of Saraighat, a significant part of Assam’s heroic history.
After the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826, the state came under British rule, but its distinct identity remained.
Assamese culture, literature, and traditional arts, as well as its spiritual significance, are also very ancient.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that an SIT investigation has revealed that foreign forces are working to influence the internal policies of India and Assam. He claimed that an anti-India conspiracy is being hatched in connivance with a Pakistani citizen and a British citizen. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, citing the Intelligence Bureau report and naming Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi’s wife Elizabeth Gogoi, has called for the investigation of the entire matter to be handed over to the Union Home Ministry. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has leveled serious allegations against Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi and his wife Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi regarding alleged links with Pakistan, which he described as a national security issue. According to Himanta Biswa Sarma, this matter concerns national security, and the Assam government has formed an SIT to investigate it. Himanta Biswa Sarma alleged that Gaurav Gogoi’s British wife, who worked for a Pakistan-based firm, played a role in anti-India activities and shared confidential information with a Pakistani citizen named Ali Tauqeer Sheikh. However, Gaurav has dismissed this allegation as baseless.
Furthermore, many senior BJP leaders, from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have talked about demographic change in Assam. Demographic changes in this region, particularly the growing Muslim population, which Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Miah calls “Muslims,” ​​are a matter of serious concern. It would not be sufficient for the BJP to simply make this an election issue. If this is indeed the case and the BJP has failed to prevent it, it is a matter of national shame, and major action should be taken against the BJP’s central and state governments, as well as the relevant bureaucrats, responsible for this.
The geographical location of Assam clearly demonstrates the potential for demographic change to pose a significant threat to national security. After the narrow Chicken Neck region near Siliguri, the first expanse of land connecting the northeastern states is Assam’s own territory. On one side of this Chicken Neck lies Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority region. If foreign Muslims come and settle here, then they can create a big mess here by influencing the Chicken Neck region and the forces that are often involved in conspiring to disintegrate India, some of which have been mentioned by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during the election campaign.