Hyderabad, Aug. 3 -- India Hate Lab recently released a report under its Early Warning, Early Response (EWER)initiative, highlighting a worrying rise in hate speech, harassment, violence and forced evictions targeting Bengali-origin Muslims who are being branded as "illegal Bangladeshi immigrants" in Assam.

Its chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, is known to have openly led a hate campaign fuelled with provocative Islamophobic statements.

On May 28, he announced a scheme to provide arms licences to "indigenous" people in border areas. He named five Muslim-dominated districts as the focus of the plan, saying it was to protect residents from "hostile elements."

In a speech on June 9, Sarma accused "newly arrived" Muslims of using beef-e...