Muslim traders behind price increase of vegetables in Guwahati

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s claim

Guwahati (Assam) – ‘Who are those responsible for increased prices of vegetables ? In Guwahati they are Miya traders who sell vegetables at a higher price to Assamese traders. In the villages, vegetables are available at low prices. If Assamese traders had sold vegetables, they would not have extorted extra money from Assamese citizens’, said Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP ruled Assam Government’s Chief Minister. In Assam, Muslims speaking Bengali are possibly called ‘Miya’. They are originally from Bangladesh.

चरैवेति-चरैवेति, यही तो मंत्र है अपना ।
नहीं रुकना, नहीं थकना, सतत चलना सतत चलना ।
यही तो मंत्र है अपना, शुभंकर मंत्र है अपना ॥ https://t.co/CW11qzHzzQ

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) July 15, 2023

AIMIM party president and MP Asaduddin Owaisi has criticised Chief Minister Sarma’s statement. ‘There is a group of people in the country who blame Muslims if their buffaloes do not give milk or their chickens do not lay eggs. Perhaps they are blaming Muslims for their own failures. Prime Minister Modi has a special friendship with Muslims of the foreign countries. Modi should import tomatoes, spinach, potatoes, etc. from them and reduce prices’, taunted Owaisi. (If the Chief Minister of a State makes such a claim, there is probably of some truth in it but leaders like Owaisi feel that people from their community are always innocent – Editor).

Editorial Viewpoint

It is important to find out if Chief Minister Sarma’s claim is applicable in other parts of the country as well. In that case, citizens calling for a boycott of such traders would not be surprising.