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It is a pejorative term used for Bengali-origin Muslims in Assam and often at the root of controversies in the state. Now, it has come to the Assembly, with the use of the term by ruling BJP leaders bringing proceedings to a halt for two days straight this week.
While Opposition leaders have deplored the usage of “miya” and the fact that such statements were becoming “part of the political culture” in the state, the BJP has taken to referring to the Supreme Court’s recent order in which it said that referring to a man as “miyan-tiyan” and “Pakistani” might be in “poor taste” but did not amount to an offence of hurting religious sentiments.
On Tuesday, the Assembly was first adjourned for 20 minutes and then all the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLAs suspended for pushing for a breach of privilege motion against Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Irrigation Ashok Singhal for statements he made at a recent event in his constituency Dhekiajuli.
In a video of Singhal speaking at a Bhaona event — a traditional dance drama conveying religious messages in Assam’s Neo-Vaishnavite tradition — he can be heard purportedly telling people not to allow “miyas” to set up shops at the event.
“Our boys don’t enter in Eid … Everyone has their own place. You have your own food, you have your own clothes, you have your own traditions. They have their own traditions… And you let them set up shops here. That cannot be in my constituency,” the minister is heard saying in the video.
AIUDF MLA Rafiqul Islam sought to move a breach of privilege motion against Singhal in the Assembly on Tuesday, but the Speaker disallowed it saying the matter did not meet the requirements for the motion as per the rules.
On Wednesday, the House was adjourned for 15 minutes after Congress MLA Sherman Ali was accused of using unparliamentary language to describe the answers given by ministers in the Assembly. The row intensified after BJP MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi targeted Ali, following which Opposition MLAs demanded an apology from Kurmi.
Deputy Speaker Numal Momin, who was presiding over the House at the time, said the exchange would be expunged but added “there is nothing communal about the word miya”.
“After the minister’s unconstitutional statements, today an MLA made a racial statement in the Assembly. People in power keep saying these kinds of things. It is becoming a part of the political culture of the state,” Rafiqul Islam told The Indian Express.
“An MLA or a minister making such statements is unfortunate. They take a Constitutional oath before sitting in the Assembly and before taking office. However, the minister was provoking other community members against another community and made a very communal statement. He should resign from his position and he is not worthy of it. If he says that he is not with a particular community, that means the departments under him will also not work with them,” he said.
Sherman Ali said the House proceedings reflected “an erosion of democratic values and the sanctity of the Assemblies”.
“Part of a minister’s oath is to carry out their work without discrimination against anyone and doing justice to all communities without prejudice. So when the minister makes this kind of racial statement, he loses the right to hold his position. We had also demanded that the MLA apologise today for his racial statement but he was allowed to continue by the Speaker,” he told The Indian Express.
Defending Singhal, state BJP spokesperson Manoj Baruah said: “Ashok Singhal has said there was a preparatory meeting in his constituency for a religious occasion, where he said this. It’s not a question of Hindu-Muslim; in every religion, people of that religion set up business at their festivals. As a responsible member of the government, what he is saying is limited to this.”
On the controversy involving Rupjyoti Kurmi, Baruah said: “Recently, the Supreme Court cleared that this is not abusive language. It is just being raked up by the AIUDF.”
Last year, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he would “take sides” and would not “let Miya Muslims take over all of Assam”. He was responding to adjournment motions moved by four Opposition MLAs over the law and order situation in Assam, particularly over incidents of crime against women and some local outfits in Sivasagar district calling for “all Bangladeshis to leave Upper Assam within seven days”.
In 2022, two days after a “Miya Museum” was inaugurated in Goalpara district, the Sarma government ordered it sealed amid protests by BJP leaders, among others. Sarma defended the sealing, saying many items put on display in the museum were actually part of “Assamese culture”.
In 2020, amid protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Sarma, then the finance minister, said at a public meeting that BJP workers had to fight to “save Assam from those who write Miya poetry, from the likes of Ajmals, such ultra communal forces”.
