Guwahati, March 30 -- Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently threatened to break the "backbone" of Miyas, a pejorative term for Bengali-speaking Muslims, if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returns to power in the Northeast state for the third time in a row. "In the past five years, I have broken the bones, hands, and legs of Bangladeshi Miyas [politically]. In the next five years, I will break their backbone as well so that they cannot challenge the indigenous people," Sarma said on March 27. All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal hit back, saying Sarma's intimidating tactics would no longer succeed. "He will lose the election and have to leave Assam...then there will be dadagiri [intimidation] of Miyas," said Ajmal, whose party has Bengali-speaking Muslims among its core supporters. Sarma has sharpened his rhetoric against Miyas in the run-up to the April 9 polls as the ruling BJP seeks to play on the fear of "outsiders". The fear is not new. The perceived threat to the indigenous people's demography, language, culture, and land from outsiders, especially Miyas, has resulted in agitations that claimed lives of several. It has shaped political and electoral discourse. The BJP has used the anti-Miya sentiment to its advantage with the promise of stopping alleged illegal infiltration from Bangladesh. It formed its government in Assam for the first time in 2016 and returned to power in 2021 on the slogan of protecting "jati, mati, bheti" (race, land, and home). The party's campaign against Miyas intensified after Sarma became the chief minister in 2021. Sarma's policies, such as evicting those described as "encroachers" from government land and implementing stringent laws regulating cattle and beef transportation, slaughter, and sale, have been seen as measures targeting Miyas. Sarma has claimed Miyas will account for 40% of the state's population after the next Census. As per the 2011 Census, 10.67 million Muslims in Assam were 34.22% of the state's population. The Opposition Congress has sought to counter the BJP's polarisation by stressing on creating "Bor Axom (Greater Assam)". "We aim not just to overthrow the BJP and return to power, but also to create a Bor Axom, where people from all communities can live peacefully and without fear, and no one is targeted because of their religion or language," said Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi....