© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Two days after a ‘Miya Museum’ was inaugurated in Assam’s Goalpara district, to commemorate the Bengali-origin Muslims of the state, the Himanta Biswa Sarma government ordered it sealed on Tuesday after protests by BJP leaders, among others.
An official of the Lakhipur Revenue Circle ordered the sealing, on the grounds that the private museum had come up in a house built under the PMAY-G (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin). The notice says, “As per Direction of DC Goalpara, this PMAY-G house of Mohar Ali, S/O Somesh Ali of Vill-Dapkarbhita, is hereby sealed until further order.”
Chief Minister Sarma defended the sealing, saying many items put on display in the ‘Miya Museum’ — as part of the culture of descendants of people who migrated from what was to become East Pakistan and Bangladesh — were actually part of “Assamese culture”. He warned of a probe into the source of funding for the museum.
‘Miya’ is a derogatory term used for Bengali-origin Muslims in Assam, many of whom have borne the brunt of the NRC drive in the state to weed out “illegal immigrants”.
After the museum was sealed, Mohar Ali along with his two minor sons sat on a dharna outside his house, as per a PTI report. “We are displaying objects with which the community identifies itself so that people from other communities can realise that the Miyas are not any different from them,” he told reporters. PTI said that the police later took him into custody.
On Sunday, the All Assam Miya Parishad’s Goalpara Committee inaugurated the Miya Museum at Dapkarvita area in Goalpara, with the aim of “preserving the culture and heritage” of the Miyas.
The museum showcased items used by the community, such as lungi, langol or plough, kinds of fishing equipment and pitha (a form of rice cake), as well as items that have now gone out of use.
After the inauguration, Miya Parishad president Mohar Ali said similar museums would be set up in different parts of Assam, such as Morigaon. He also appealed to the state government to provide 11 bighas of land for the purpose and for setting up a Miya Cultural Complex and Library, as well as urged Sarma to set up a Miya Museum inside the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra cultural hub of Guwahati.
In his comments on Tuesday, Sarma said items like ploughs and the fishing equipment displayed in the museum belonged to “the Assamese community”, and only the lungi actually belonged to the Miyas. “What is new in this?… Let them prove before the government that the langol was used by Miya people alone. If they can’t do that, a case will be filed,” the CM warned, demanding that those behind the museum “justify and substantiate their claims of displaying certain items as part of their separate culture”.
Soon after the inauguration of the Goalpara museum, there had been protests by BJP leaders, including Dibrugarh MLA Prashanta Phukan, to shut it. Ex-BJP MLA Shiladitya Dev sought strong action against those responsible for setting it up.
Assam minister Urkhao Gwra Brahma questioned the “intention” behind the museum, calling it “not clean enough & having motive of creating a cultural conflict”. “This issue (will) run long as toxic smoke in (the) political air of the state. Master mind behind (the) plan is definitely subversive,” Brahma tweeted.
Tezpur MP Pallab Luchan Das said: “A section of the people are trying to create unrest in Assam. I hope the government will take steps on the issue. No steps to weaken Assam will be tolerated.”
Members of the All Assam Miya Parishad could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.
It was Congress MLA Sherman Ali who first proposed a Miya Museum at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra. At the time the health minister in the Sarbananda Sonowal Cabinet, Sarma had opposed it, saying that those based in the “charlands” of Assam could not claim a distinct culture and were migrants from Bangladesh. He said the BJP government would not allow any “distortion” in the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra.
In 2019, Sarma had attacked ‘Miya poetry’, a genre of writing by people of the community. An FIR was filed against 10 poets of the community, alleging that Miya poetry could cause “communal disturbance” and that it painted the general Assamese community as “xenpophobic”.
Sarma referred to the same on Tuesday, saying that when he had spoken about Miya poetry earlier, some people had dubbed him “communal”. “Those people should look at the Miya Museum and see things for themselves,” he said.
While a majority of the Miya population lags behind the rest of the state in all indices, the conditions are worst in the char lands where many of them live. Being low-lying areas, these are prone to floods and erosion, and nearly 80% of people here are below the poverty line.
