The new fault traces in Assam

Efforts by Bangla-speaking Muslims in Assam to claim a particular identification by way of a museum give a brand new twist to outdated fears of a menace to indigenous tradition

ISSUE DATE: Nov 28, 2022 | UPDATED: Nov 18, 2022 16:23 IST

Exhibits on the Miya Museum in Assam’s Goalpara district; (Photo: ANI)

Inside a one-room home with a tin shed in a nondescript village in Assam’s Goalpara district, a couple of objects similar to a hand towel, conventional fishing gear, a plough and a lungi are positioned over a desk. This is the Miya Museum that was shut down by the Assam authorities simply two days after its inauguration on October 23. Set up by the All Assam Miya Parishad (AAMP), reportedly at a value of simply Rs 7,000, in a home that belongs to its president Mohor Ali, the museum was meant to showcase the tradition of Muslims of Bengali origin in Assam. But the initiative appears to have irked the state’s indigenous communities and supplied political events on each side of the communal divide fertile floor to consolidate their respective vote banks.

Edited By:

Arindam Mukherjee

Published On:

Nov 18, 2022