Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday hit back at the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH) after the organisation demanded his removal and criminal proceedings against him for alleged hate speech, saying he does “not care” about the Jamiat and was “officially showing it the thumbs down.”

“In this thumb, there is Assamese blood, strength and courage,” Sarma said, accusing the Jamiat of earlier trying to block merit-based appointments through the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). “Now they are saying the Assam chief minister should resign. This decision will be taken by the people of Assam, not Madani (JUH leader). If I find him, I will even send Madani to Bangladesh,” he said, also describing the Congress as the Jamiat’s “B team”.

The JUH had adopted resolutions at its working committee meeting on Wednesday against what it termed “inhumane and discriminatory” eviction drives in Assam that it claimed had displaced 50,000 families. The Jamiat said Sarma’s remarks showed “communal bias” and urged constitutional authorities, including the President and the Chief Justice of India, to remove him.

Sarma, who leads the BJP-led government, insisted evictions would continue “against suspected foreigners” but not against Indians or Assamese people. He added, “If any illegal Bangladeshi is identified, he is being pushed back instead of going through detention. These developments have made them angry but I have no objection.”

Founded in 1919, the JUH is the country’s oldest Muslim socio-religious body, headed by Maulana Mahmood Asad Madani. In Assam, it is split between AIUDF leader Badruddin Ajmal and Congress MP Rakibul Hussain. The outfit wields influence in the state’s 35 per cent Muslim population.

Since June 16, at least 13 eviction drives have been carried out in Assam, displacing around 6,000 families. The JUH has alleged that eviction drives are targeting Bengali-speaking Miya Muslims, violating Supreme Court guidelines that mandate rehabilitation of the displaced.