Guwahati, July 7: The main opposition parties in Assam, the Congress and the AIUDF has fired salvo at Assam chief minister accusing him of trying to divide the muslim community and also divert attention to the miseries faced by the people due to prolonged floods by his cabinet’s this week’s decision of granting ‘indigenous status’ to five Assamese speaking Muslim groups in the state, which the government has also said is a step toward having a separate census for Indigenous Muslims in the state.
“Khilonjia Muslims have lived for 100 yrs in Assam. They were concerned about losing their indigenous identity after migrated Muslims came to state. That’s why we declared them as indigenous Assamese Muslims. Other muslims are Assamese too & shouldn’t worry” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters in Guwahati.
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.
” This is open divide and rule policy of the state. The government is trying to divide the muslims, so that a section of muslims can be used for political benefits. Our constitution does not provide any separate rights for indigenous” said AIDUF Aminul Islam .
Muslims are over 35 percent of Assam’s 3.12 cr population. Around 4% out of the total muslim population in Assam are indigenous Assamese Muslims and large part are mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims. BJP’s main political rhetoric in Assam has been mainly against the Bengali-speaking Muslims, who are often branded as illegal immigrants from Bangaldesh.
According to political watchers, there has been a consorted effort by the BJP to woo the Assamese speaking muslims.
“This is to divert the attention from the sufferings and miseries faced by people due to prolonged floods … First lets define who is Indigenous in Assam, let all communities who are indigenous be given the status together , we would have nothing to say… and is Assam Cm not in sync with the stand taken by centre …I am asking so since I can share document that reveals that centre in an international platform has already stated that all Indian are indigenous” said deputy leader in Assam Assembly and congress MLA Rockybul Hussain.
