After ‘flood jihad’ barb, Himanta Biswa Sarma questions ‘Mecca-like’ gates of Muslim-owned private varsity in Meghalaya

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma continued his tirade against the University of Science and Technology in Meghalaya (USTM) by saying the university has depictions of Mecca – the holiest site of Islam in Saudi Arabia – at its gates and nothing to symbolise Hindu or Christian religions.

The new parallel comes days after Sarma accused the university of waging what he called the 'flood jihad', by demolishing hills on its campus to build new structures which, according to him, is one of the reasons for water logging in Guwahati, the state capital.

“It’s embarrassing to go there, you have to go under Mecca. What we are saying is that there should be a namghar (community prayer hall, part of Assam’s neo-Vaishnavite tradition) also there. Mecca-Medina, church. Make all three… They have kept a ‘Mecca’ there. Let them make a namghar, make a church. We will walk under all three, why will we walk under just one,” Sarma was quoted as saying in a report by Indian Express.

USTM, a private university established in 2008, is promoted by the Education Research and Development Foundation, which was founded by Mahbubul Hoque, also the Chancellor of the University. Hoque is a Muslim of Bengali-origin from Assam’s Karimganj district in the Barak Valley.

“Why only one religion is being propagated?” Sarma asked

Sarma also said that his BJP government would move the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the university. He also said that Congress leader late Tarun Gogoi, who was the chief minister of Assam between 2001 and 2016, had also identified the water from Jorabat area along the Assam-Meghalaya border for the ‘artificial flood’ in Guwahati.

The varsity is located in 9th Mile area in Ri-Bhoi district of neighbouring Meghalaya, near Assam’s Jorabat which serves as an entry point to Guwahati.

“USTM is a danger to Assam. We will go to the National Green Tribunal against it,” the chief minister said.

Guwahati witnessed flash flooding after a few hours of rainfall on August 5. Two das later, Gauhati High Court rapped the Sarma-led government over waterlogging in the city.

On August 9, Sarma accused USTM of engaging in a ‘flood jihad’ by demolishing hills on its campus to build new structures. Later, USTM said in a statement on that its campus accounts for a ‘minuscule portion’ of the water that flows to downstream areas such as Jorabat.

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, son of Tarun Gogoi, in an X post, described Sarma’s accusations as ‘nonsense’. “Can someone stop the Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa from his jihad of repeated nonsense? It is simply an exaggerated cover up for his failures and scams,” Gogoi said in the post on Sunday.