Congress MLA on Saturday, Sherman Ali Ahmed of Baghbar constituency during a committee meeting of Assam Legislative Assembly proposed Assam government to establish a ‘Miya Museum’ on the premises of Sankardava Kalakshetra in Guwahati.
In the meeting, he stated that he made the proposal for people living in Char-Chaporis areas (riverine islands). These islands are mostly found in Lower and Western Assam and it is estimated that 25 lakh people live in the islands.
The population in Char areas are mostly dominated by the ‘Miya’ community, which is a common name given to Bengali speaking Muslims in Assam and are termed as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
Assam has an estimate of about 64 lakhs Bengali Muslim population while the Muslim population in the state is estimated to be around 1 crore.
Finance Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma rejected the proposal of the ‘Miya museum. He stated that there is no separate identity or culture in Char Anchal of the state as most people migrated from Bangladesh.
Taking to Twitter, Sarma stated, “In my understanding, there is no separate identity-and culture in Char Anchal of Assam as most of the people had migrated from Bangladesh. Obviously, in Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakhetra, which is the epitome of Assamese culture, we will not allow any distortion. Sorry MLA Sahab.”
In my understanding, there is no separate identity-and culture in Char Anchal of Assam as most of the people had migrated from Bangladesh. Obviously, in Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakhetra, which is the epitome of Assamese culture, we will not allow any distortion. Sorry MLA Sahab pic.twitter.com/6a2urvTRg4
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) October 24, 2020
The Congress MLA also took to Twitter to hit out against the tweet of the Education Minister. His tweet states, “Sorry Sir @himantabiswa. Ancestors of these people were migrated from erstwhile Bengal, which was an integral part of erstwhile Bengal, which was an integral part of undivided India. Kindly don’t distort history just for sake of getting power.”
Sorry Sir @himantabiswa . Ancestors of these people were migrated from erstwhile Bengal, which was integral part of undivided India. Kindly don’t distort history more just sake of getting power. https://t.co/vFSlmDON8G
— Abdul Khaleque (@MPAbdulKhaleque) October 24, 2020