Assam’s Bengali-Muslim singer Altap Hussain, who was arrested over a controversial protest song, was trying to whip up a “dispute between the Hindu and Miya communities”, the FIR registered in the case states.
Altap, a 35-year-old singer from Dhubri, was arrested Saturday for protest song called ‘Asom tumar baapor neki, khaali miya khedibo khuja (Does Assam belong to your father that you just want to chase Miyas out)’, sung in Assamese. “Miya” is a pejorative term for Bengali Muslims.
The arrest followed a suo motu FIR registered on August 30 under Section 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The singer has been remanded in police custody.
Released last week following recent tensions in the state and widely circulated online, the video of the song features Altap dancing with movements similar to Assam’s folk dance, Bihu.
The complaint, filed by the officer-in-charge of the Gauripur police station and which forms the basis of the FIR, points to one particular line.
“His song, by saying that that pujaris in mandirs commit rapes, wounded the religious sentiments of all Hindu people and along with that has created divide and clash between East Bengali Muslims (Miya) and indigenous tribals,” the complaint states.
The song also refers to the tensions in the state following the alleged gangrape of a 14-year girl in Nagaon district on August 22.
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Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma referred to Altap’s arrest during the course of one of his regular Facebook live sessions on Sunday. He referred to the song as part of an “attack” and called it an attempt to “change Bihu into Miya Bihu”.
“Attacking and abusing us, and critiquing our civilisation culture, some have started Miya Bihu as well. This man called Altap Hussain singing Miya Bihu has been arrested by the police today. I want to say one thing clearly: that as long as we are around, till the time that our society is alive, we will continue living with self-respect. We will not accept an attack on our social order,” he said.
Days after this song was released, Altap came out with another protest song, which goes: “We are Assamese citizens of India. Why do you keep saying Miya, Miya. It really hurts.”
Altap’s younger brother Anwar told The Indian Express that the family did not know about the song until his brother’s arrest.
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“We know that he sings and makes music, and that he puts them up on YouTube. He has been singing ever since he was small and had learnt by himself. But we don’t know about the kind of music he makes. We don’t know anything. I only came to know about this song after he was arrested,” he said.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
