Pinarayi Vijayan Slams Assam BJP' Video Glorifying Attack on Miya Muslims as “Direct Incitement of Violence” Against Community

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday sharply criticised a controversial social media video involving Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, calling it a “shocking, direct incitement of violence” against the Miya Muslim community and a threat to India’s constitutional values.

In a post on X, Pinarayi Vijayan said the video posted by BJP Assam's official X handle— which appeared to show the Assam CM in a clip symbolically shooting at images of Muslim men at point-blank range — was part of a “nefarious attempt to normalise hate for electoral gains.” CM asserted that such content, shared by the Assam BJP’s official social media account, was an “affront to our Constitution” and accused the national BJP leadership of remaining silent, thus confirming “their complicity in this divisive politics.” He urged secular and democratic forces to unite against what he termed “communal hatemongering and efforts to undermine India’s pluralist soul.”

The video in question, posted on February 7 by the Assam BJP’s X handle and captioned “point blank shot,” blended footage of Sarma handling a rifle with digitally altered images portraying men wearing skullcaps — widely interpreted as representing Muslim identity — as targets. On-screen text included slogans like “No mercy” and “foreigner free Assam." The clip sparked immediate political backlash across the country.

The BJP’s Assam unit removed the post amid the backlash. Party representatives have so far offered no public comment on the controversy.

The video emerged against a backdrop of heightened political tensions in Assam ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections. Sarma and the BJP are using communal rhetoric and divisive politics to mobilise support by stoking fear and division over issues like migration and voter roll revisions.