Efforts by Bangla-speaking Muslims in Assam to say a particular identification via a museum give a brand new twist to previous 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 equivalent 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 price 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 offered political events on either side of the communal divide fertile floor to consolidate their respective vote banks.
Published By:
Arindam Mukherjee
Published On:
Nov 18, 2022
