After ‘fertiliser’ and ‘flood’ jihad, Assam CM’s ‘Muslim marriage’ jihad

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has blamed Muslims for ‘fertiliser jihad’ and ‘flood jihad’ in recent weeks, is all set to present a Bill that will make registration of marriage and divorce among Muslims compulsory in the state.

Claiming that the objective of the Bill was to prevent child marriage, the chief minister told the media in Guwahati, "earlier, Muslim marriages and divorces were conducted by qazis. This new Bill will ensure that the government and not qazis register and validate marriages and divorce among Muslims". Earlier this year, the government had repealed the Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act of 1935 through an ordinance.

All marriages among Muslims, but not Hindus or other communities, were to follow the Special Marriage Act. This was said to be the first step towards a uniform civil code (UCC).

Under the 1935 Act, 94 Muslim registrars were functioning in the state until February 2024 as government employees. Assam minister Jayanta Mallabarua had stated then that the registration of Muslim marriages and divorces would be taken up by the district commissioner and district registrar. He had also announced that the 94 Muslim registrars, who were functioning under the Act, would be discharged from their duties with a one-time compensation of Rs 2 lakh each.

This week’s move to have another law caught everyone by surprise, not least because child marriage is not confined to the Muslim community, if that is indeed the objective now and not a UCC. In fact, more child marriages are recorded among Hindus than Muslims.

At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been busy promoting the idea of a ‘secular’ and uniform code and the BJP is all for a UCC, Assam’s haste in rushing through a separate law looks to be in defiance of both the party and the prime minister. There is no explanation yet on why other communities, and especially the Hindus who constitute the majority, are exempt.

It is not known if there is immediate provocation or urgency, and most observers in the state seem to believe that it looks like one more diversionary tactic designed to polarise the people at the same time. Observers also wondered if, as and when a similar ‘uniform’ law is enacted for Hindus and other communities, can the state keep priests and religious leaders out of marriages?

Others believe that the implications do not seem to have been thought through by the Assam cabinet. Will the availability of the registrar and the sub-registrar on a particular day or week now determine the wedding dates, they asked, asking in addition if the registrars would move from one home to other registering marriages. Mandatory registration for everyone within a month of the community wedding, they point out, would have served the same purpose.

In 2023, the Assam chief minister had accused Bengali Muslim vegetable growers of the state of “fertiliser jihad” and blamed the farmers for conspiring to damage Hindu buyers’ health by allegedly using an overdose of chemicals in the crops, ignoring the obvious fact that the vegetables were being consumed by both Muslims and Hindus. The state government was also working on introducing a new law that would criminalise 'love jihad' and award life imprisonment to those found guilty.

Himanta Biswa Sarma has also ramped up what he now calls ‘flood jihad’ allegedly being conducted by the University of Science and Technology (USTM) in Meghalaya. The university last week became the only private university in the Northeast to be included in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2024, released by the Union ministry of education.

Sarma, however, has accused USTM of being responsible for flooding Guwahati in August following heavy rains on 5 August and a sharp shower on 20 August. Sarma also accused the university of deliberately constructing its gates to resemble Mecca. His government, Sarma threatened, would move the NGT (National Green Tribunal) against the university.

There are few takers for the chief minister’s delusional takes. Most Guwahati residents blame reckless construction, concretisation of Guwahati and encroachments filling up the ponds, streams and wetlands for flooding the city. They also point out that USTM, a private university established in 2008, is located in the 9th Mile area in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya near Assam’s Jorabat, the entry point to Guwahati.

The capital city itself is a trough surrounded by as many as 15 hills, most of them within Assam. While vegetation on the hills have suffered owing to construction activities, leading to more rainwater flowing into the city, blaming one university on one of the hills for flooding is not credible, they say.