GUWAHATI: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said the state government will carry out a Census for the five groups of Assamese-speaking Muslims of the state, who were officially recognized as indigenous by the state cabinet on Tuesday, and work for their socio-economic uplift.
Amid sharp criticism from Congress and AIUDF for Tuesday’s cabinet decision, Sarma said, “There are many Muslim people living here in Assam. Among them are some Muslims who have migrated to Assam at different points of time, and we identify them as immigrant Muslims. On the other hand, there are the few other Muslim groups who are sons-of-the soil and have been struggling for long for protection of their cultural identity. The Assam government has recognized their struggle and defined them as indigenous Assamese Muslims.” He added, “In the next step, we will have a Census of these Indigenous Assamese Muslims and we will take more steps for their socio-economic development.”
Replying to criticisms from the opposition that the state was yet to define who an Assamese is, as required for implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord, Sarma said, “We need the definition of Assamese only for legal matters. Apart from that, we actually do not need a definition. If you take out a section of the population, the rest are all Assamese,” he said, without explaining who this particular section of the population is.
These five Muslim groups, who were recognized as natives of the state, comprise the Goria, Moria, Jolah (only the ones living in tea gardens), Desi and Syed (only the Assamese -speaking) groups.
Congress leader of opposition in the assembly, Debabrata Saikia, said the state cabinet’s decision was aimed at dividing the people of the state. Another Congress leader, Zakir Hussain Sikdar, said, “This nomenclature of indigenous Assamese Muslims is unconstitutional. We are still trying to frame the definition of an Assamese.” AIUDF leader Rafiqul Islam termed the cabinet decision as a “shameful act”. He added, “The cabinet should have instead reserved 2 of the 7 Rajya Sabha seats from the state for these people.”
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.Prabin Kalita is a journalist at The Times of India and is curren...
Read MorePrabin Kalita is a journalist at The Times of India and is currently the Chief of Bureau (northeast). He has been reporting in mainstream Indian national media since 2001. He has been a field journalist reporting gamut of issues from India’s northeastern region and major developments in neighbouring countries like Myanmar, China, Bhutan and Bangladesh concerning India and northeastern region. He has been covering insurgency—internal and cross-border, politics, natural calamities, environment etc. He is a post-graduate in Geological Sciences from Gauhati University.
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