Condemning Renewed BJP Discrimination, Abuses in Assam
August 19th, 2025
Justice For All Canada strongly condemns BJP authorities for launching a series of forced evictions targeting Bengali-speaking Indian Muslim citizens in Assam (northeastern state in India). An unlawful expulsion campaign since June 2025 has demolished over 3,400 homes across districts like Hasilabeel and Goalpara. Thousands of families were displaced and at least one person was killed during protests against these operations. Between May and July 2025, nearly 2,000 Muslims were expelled across the Bangladesh border. Many of those expelled were Indian citizens. They were denied any hearings, had their documents taken away and then forced across the border into Bangladesh.
These deportations violate due process and international human rights laws. Indian-Muslims in Assam are experiencing shocking abuses, such as beatings and blindfolding, all carried out under the guise of “anti-infiltration” drives. In parallel, the BJP government in Assam has moved to issue gun licenses to “indigenous” residents. Such a policy risks state-sanctioned vigilantism against the Assamese community, who already face severe marginalization.
Additionally, Assam Chief Minister Humanta Biswa Sarma’s hateful rhetoric has become the driving force inciting his government’s ethnic cleansing campaign. During the state assembly, he declared: “I will take sides. Why will 'Miya' Muslims go to Upper Assam? You mean to say that you will take over the entire Assam… would not let you do that”.
These devastating actions are a result of a long-standing discriminatory framework; under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), non-Muslims without documents are protected, while Muslim citizens face systematic detention, eviction and eventual expulsion through the National Register of Citizens* and Foreigners’ Tribunal System. Moreover, citizenship cases before the Foreigners’ Tribunals (stemming from the NRC) have been withdrawn for non-Muslims under the CAA. By contrast, Muslims remain before the tribunals, facing a dire risk of detention or expulsion. Human rights groups widely confirmed that this selective approach has created a discriminatory “dual system” of citizenship based on religion. According to this approach designed by the right-wing BJP-led government in India, Bengali-speaking Indian Muslims are excluded from Assam state, while others are shielded.
The Election Commission has also announced a voter roll “re-verification” in Assam later this year. This process resembles the NRC exercise that excluded nearly two million people in 2019, most of them Muslims. This will be used again to strike Muslim voters from the lists, thereby deepening disenfranchisement and compounding the risks for millions of Muslims in Assam.
The current policies in Assam betray the promise of India’s constitution, which guarantees equality before the law. These ongoing measures amount to gross human rights violations and indicate a collapse of India’s secular protections in Assam.
In his ongoing conversations and trade deals with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Justice For All Canada calls on Prime Minister Mark Carney to urge the following actions for minorities in Assam:
1. Immediately end the eviction and expulsion campaign in Assam.
2. Halt discriminatory application of the Citizenship Amendment Act and reinstate due process safeguards for all residents.
3. End related measures, such as the National Register of Citizens, voter roll re-verification, and Foreigners’ Tribunal proceedings, which respectively strip Muslim citizens of due process and equal protection.
The BJP’s devastating targeting of Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam is not an immigration issue. In fact, International monitors, including Genocide Watch, have previously issued a genocide alert for Muslims in Assam. Due to global actors, including Canada, ignoring this warning, the circumstance is no longer hypothetical. This human rights crisis has urgent consequences unfolding now.
*The National Register of Citizens, or NRC, is a “citizenship list” created in Assam to identify so-called illegal immigrants. In 2019, it was updated to require residents to show decades-old documents to “prove” their citizenship. Nearly 2 million people (mostly Muslims) were excluded and left at risk of being declared foreigners by Assam’s tribunals.
Justice For All Canada’s Save India From Fascism campaign encourages supporters to learn about and advocate for the Assamese community by visiting the following sources:
1. After 78 years, India’s Muslims are being written out of citizenship https://trt.global/world/article/9b8f0f002c76
2. India: Hundreds of Muslims Unlawfully Expelled to Bangladesh https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/07/23/india-hundreds-of-muslims-unlawfully-expelled-to-bangladesh
3. Genocide Watch for Assam, India - renewed https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/2019/08/18/genocide-watch-for-assam-india-renewed
4. Denial of Bengali Muslim Citizenship in Assam, India https://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/anti-muslim-actions-in-india/denial-of-bengali-muslim-citizenship-in-assam-india
Justice For All Canada strongly condemns BJP authorities for launching a series of forced evictions targeting Bengali-speaking Indian Muslim citizens in Assam (northeastern state in India). An unlawful expulsion campaign since June 2025 has demolished over 3,400 homes across districts like Hasilabeel and Goalpara. Thousands of families were displaced and at least one person was killed during protests against these operations. Between May and July 2025, nearly 2,000 Muslims were expelled across the Bangladesh border. Many of those expelled were Indian citizens. They were denied any hearings, had their documents taken away and then forced across the border into Bangladesh.
These deportations violate due process and international human rights laws. Indian-Muslims in Assam are experiencing shocking abuses, such as beatings and blindfolding, all carried out under the guise of “anti-infiltration” drives. In parallel, the BJP government in Assam has moved to issue gun licenses to “indigenous” residents. Such a policy risks state-sanctioned vigilantism against the Assamese community, who already face severe marginalization.
Additionally, Assam Chief Minister Humanta Biswa Sarma’s hateful rhetoric has become the driving force inciting his government’s ethnic cleansing campaign. During the state assembly, he declared: “I will take sides. Why will 'Miya' Muslims go to Upper Assam? You mean to say that you will take over the entire Assam… would not let you do that”.
These devastating actions are a result of a long-standing discriminatory framework; under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), non-Muslims without documents are protected, while Muslim citizens face systematic detention, eviction and eventual expulsion through the National Register of Citizens* and Foreigners’ Tribunal System. Moreover, citizenship cases before the Foreigners’ Tribunals (stemming from the NRC) have been withdrawn for non-Muslims under the CAA. By contrast, Muslims remain before the tribunals, facing a dire risk of detention or expulsion. Human rights groups widely confirmed that this selective approach has created a discriminatory “dual system” of citizenship based on religion. According to this approach designed by the right-wing BJP-led government in India, Bengali-speaking Indian Muslims are excluded from Assam state, while others are shielded.
The Election Commission has also announced a voter roll “re-verification” in Assam later this year. This process resembles the NRC exercise that excluded nearly two million people in 2019, most of them Muslims. This will be used again to strike Muslim voters from the lists, thereby deepening disenfranchisement and compounding the risks for millions of Muslims in Assam.
The current policies in Assam betray the promise of India’s constitution, which guarantees equality before the law. These ongoing measures amount to gross human rights violations and indicate a collapse of India’s secular protections in Assam.
In his ongoing conversations and trade deals with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Justice For All Canada calls on Prime Minister Mark Carney to urge the following actions for minorities in Assam:
1. Immediately end the eviction and expulsion campaign in Assam.
2. Halt discriminatory application of the Citizenship Amendment Act and reinstate due process safeguards for all residents.
3. End related measures, such as the National Register of Citizens, voter roll re-verification, and Foreigners’ Tribunal proceedings, which respectively strip Muslim citizens of due process and equal protection.
The BJP’s devastating targeting of Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam is not an immigration issue. In fact, International monitors, including Genocide Watch, have previously issued a genocide alert for Muslims in Assam. Due to global actors, including Canada, ignoring this warning, the circumstance is no longer hypothetical. This human rights crisis has urgent consequences unfolding now.
*The National Register of Citizens, or NRC, is a “citizenship list” created in Assam to identify so-called illegal immigrants. In 2019, it was updated to require residents to show decades-old documents to “prove” their citizenship. Nearly 2 million people (mostly Muslims) were excluded and left at risk of being declared foreigners by Assam’s tribunals.
Justice For All Canada’s Save India From Fascism campaign encourages supporters to learn about and advocate for the Assamese community by visiting the following sources:
1. After 78 years, India’s Muslims are being written out of citizenship https://trt.global/world/article/9b8f0f002c76
2. India: Hundreds of Muslims Unlawfully Expelled to Bangladesh https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/07/23/india-hundreds-of-muslims-unlawfully-expelled-to-bangladesh
3. Genocide Watch for Assam, India - renewed https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/2019/08/18/genocide-watch-for-assam-india-renewed
4. Denial of Bengali Muslim Citizenship in Assam, India https://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/anti-muslim-actions-in-india/denial-of-bengali-muslim-citizenship-in-assam-india