India Hate Lab recently released a report under its Early Warning, Early Response (EWER) initiative, highlighting a worrying rise in hate speech, harassment, violence and forced evictions targeting Bengali-origin Muslims who are being branded as “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants” in Assam.
Its chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, is known to have openly led a hate campaign fuelled with provocative Islamophobic statements.
Between July 9 and July 30, India Hate Lab recorded 18 rallies across 14 districts where BJP leaders and supporters made hate-filled speeches, celebrated evictions, and demanded more demolitions of Muslim homes and businesses. Protesters carried symbolic bulldozers and chanted slogans like “Bangladeshis go back” and “Evict Miyas,” a slur for Bengali-origin Muslims.