Highlights
- The 'Miya Museum' in Assam's Goalpara district was sealed and its owner was taken into custody
- The museum was set up in a house allotted under Prime Minister Awas Yojana
- The museum was opened to the public on Sunday (October 23)
Miya museum sealed: The 'Miya Museum', set up in a house allotted under Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY), in Assam's Goalpara district was sealed and its owner was taken into custody on Tuesday (October 25) a district official said.
The museum was opened to the public on Sunday (October 23).
The president of the Miya Assam Miya Parishad, Mohar Ali set up the museum on the premises of the house allotted to him under the Prime Minister's Awas Yojana.
A team of government officers sealed the museum at Dapkabhita under Lakhiur police station and put up a notice that it has been done on the orders of the deputy commissioner.
The opening of the Museum in a house allotted under the Prime Minister's Awas Yojana led to a controversy with senior BJP leaders demanding its immediate closure.
Meanwhile, the Assam Police on Monday (October 24) detained two persons in connection with a private Miya Museum dedicated to the Miya Muslim community on allegations of wrongful use of the premises, the officials said.
The detained persons have been identified as Mohar Ali, a resident of Goalpara and Abdul Baten of Dhubri.The police further said that they have been charged in a case under sections 120 (B), 121, 121 (A), and 122 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 10 and 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The special director general of Assam Police GP Singh took to Twitter and said that the two leaders will be questioned about their links with activities of terrorist outfits Ansarullah Bangla Team and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.
"Sri Mohar Ali of Goalpara & Sri Abdul Baten of Dhubri have been detained in connection with Ghograpar PS Case no.163/22, U/S- 120(B)/121/121(A)/122 IPC , R/W-Sec -10/13 UA(P) Act. Further investigation and interrogation would be carried out about their association with AQIS/ABT," tweeted GP Singh.
A private Miya Museum was recently inaugurated by Miya Parishat at the Dapkarbhita Lakhipur area in Assam's Goalpara district.
BJP Minority Morcha member Abdur Rahim Gibran had filed a complaint against the setting up of the museum in the house.
Some agricultural implements and fishing equipment, hand towels and checked 'lungis' (sarongs worn by men) are on display as Ali claimed that these are the identity of the 'Miya' community.
In Assam, the word 'Miya' refers to Bengali-speaking migrants whose origin can be traced to Bangladesh.
Ali along with his two minor sons sat on a dharna outside the house demanding the immediate reopening of the museum.
"We are displaying objects with which the community identifies itself so that people from other communities can realise that the Miyas are not any different from them", Ali said.
The police later took him into custody.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that such activities by some members of the Miya community posed a threat to the "Assamese identity".
"How can they (Miya community) claim that the plough is their identity? It has been used by all farmers in the state for ages. It is only the lungi that they can claim as their own," Sarma said at the sidelines of a programme.
Those who have set up the museum will have to answer to an expert committee on what basis the claims were made, he added.
The setting up of a Miya Museum was first proposed by former Congress MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed in 2020. He had written to the director of museums urging for its establishment at the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra to showcase the culture and heritage of Bengali-speaking Muslims living in the riverine areas of the state.
Sarma had rejected Ahmed's proposal.
(With agencies inputs)
ALSO READ: Assam Police arrest one more member of banned outfit PFI in Kamrup district
ALSO READ: Assam government withdraws AFSPA from West Karbi Anglong; to continue in these 8 districts
