India, March 28 -- On Friday, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma threatened to break the "backbone" of Miyas, a pejorative term for Bengali-speaking Muslims, if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returns to power for the third consecutive time in Assam.

"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 the campaign trail ahead of the April 9 election.

All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal hit back at Sarma. He said Sarma's intimidating tactics would no longer succeed. "He will lose the election and have to leave Assam...then there will ...