A decision of the Himanta Biswa Sarma government in Assam has angered the opposition in the state. In fact, the state government has decided to give indigenous Muslim status to 5 Muslim communities of the state. In this, Goria, Moria, Jolha, Desi and Syed will now be identified as “Indigenous Assamese Muslims”. Please tell that all these Muslim communities are native to Assam and speak Assamese.
Let us tell you that through a special initiative by the Assam government, health, education will be arranged for them. After this decision of the Assam government, all of them will be different from the Bengali speaking Muslims who came here from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). He was locally known as “Miya Muslim”. There was a long standing demand by Assamese Muslim groups regarding this.
This decision of the cabinet of Himanta Sarkar has come after the recommendations of seven sub-committees constituted by the government. After this, now about 40 lakh Assamese speaking Muslims of the state will get recognition. Actually there are two sects of Muslims in Assam. One Mian Muslim and the other Khilonjia Muslim.
Muslim families who have connections from Bangladesh but are living in India illegally are called Mian Muslims. At the same time, those whose roots are from India have got the status of Khilonjia. After this new decision of the Assam government, the work of identifying Indian Muslims will be done faster. It is believed that with this the work of identifying and expelling Bangladeshi infiltrators will also start.
Actually Assamese Muslims have always been in favor of separation from “Miya” Muslims. On the other hand, the Assam BJP has said that the government only wants the development of Assamese Muslims and at the same time tries to save them from infiltration which has happened many times in Assam. Speaking to CNN-News18, Aminul Islam of AIUDF alleged that the decision was a way to divide the Muslim people of the state.
Aminul said that declaring minority is already defined by the constitution but BJP is declaring minorities in its own way. This is only a ploy for the BJP to bring differences between Goria, Morea and the countrymen. It is trying to bring differences in the same religion. BJP is trying to show people to what extent they can harass the Muslims of the state.
At the same time, the chairman of the Minority Welfare Board Mominul Awal is happy with the decision of the government. He says, “We are very happy with the decision of the cabinet. I challenge those who are protesting. This decision is making Swadeshi happy and Bangladeshis sad.”