Ethnic group slams the idea of certifying them as ‘indigenous Assamese Muslims’!

The BJP-led Assam government’s plan to recognize Assamese Muslims as a distinct indigenous population has been criticized by a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority. The initiative, based on the recommendations of a panel formed by the State government in July 2021, intends to identify a segment of Assamese by religion rather than ethnicity, according to the Sadou Asom Goria Jatiya Parishad (SAGJP) on Wednesday.

Goria is one of the sub-groups of people who are collectively referred to be Assamese Muslims. Syed, Moria, Deshi, and Julha are the others. Since the 13th century, these communities have been categorized based on the Muslims who have either settled in Assam or converted from other communities. The Deshi and Julha groups, for example, were converted from the Rajbongshi and Adivasi or ‘tea tribes’ populations.

‘In its July 21 report to the government, the panel on indigenous Assamese Muslims, comprised of seven subcommittees, urged community notice. This is really wrong and divisive since there is no reference to Assamese Muslims in our history,’ said SAGJP president Moinul Islam. According to him, religion had little bearing on the formation of Assamese society.

‘There is no such thing as an Assamese Muslim community, just as there is no Assamese Hindu or Assamese Christian group. The government is attempting to remove the Goria-Moria people’s ethnic identity and force a religious identity on them, which is unlawful,’ said Mir Arif Iqbal Hussain, the organization’s general secretary.

According to the SAGJP, the ‘Assamese Muslim’ label will cause certain Goria community members who practice different faiths to lose their ethnic identity. It highlighted Azizul Haque, a clergyman at a Baptist Church in Guwahati, as an example. Critics of the idea to notify Assamese Muslims claim it is an attempt to separate Assamese-speaking Muslims from Bengali-speaking or Bengal-origin Muslims, who are referred to in Assam as ‘Bangladeshis’ or ‘illegal migrants’. Assamese-speaking Muslims constitute around 4% of Assam’s overall Muslim population. According to the 2011 census, Muslims make up little less than 35% of Assam’s overall population.