Context: The idea of setting up a Miya Museum at the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra, Assam was rejected, stirring up a controversy in the state.
Issue

• The museum aimed to reflect the culture and heritage of people living in char-chaporis.
• Char-chaporis are shifting riverine islands of the Brahmaputra and primarily inhabited by the Muslims of Bengali-origin (referred as ‘Miyas’).
• The construction was rejected citing there is no separate identity and culture in Char Anchal of Assam as most of the people had migrated from Bangladesh.

Who are the Miyas?

• The ‘Miya’ community comprises descendants of Muslim migrants from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) to Assam.

The community migrated in several waves during

• British annexation of Assam in 1826,
• Partition of India, 1947
• Bangladesh Liberation War 1971

The migration has resulted in changes in demographic composition of the region.

• The discontent among the indigenous people led to the six-year-long (1979-85) anti-foreigner Assam Agitation to weed out the illegal immigrants perceived as taking over jobs, language and culture of the indigenous population.

What are char-chaporis?

• A char is a floating island while chaporis are low-lying flood-prone riverbanks.
• They keep changing shapes — a char can become a chapori or vice versa, depending on the push and pull of the Brahmaputra.
• The areas are prone to floods and erosion marked by low development indices.
• The population of chars was 24.90 lakh as per a socio-economic survey in 2002-03, 80% of which lives below poverty line.

The char areas are suffering from:

• Communication deficits
• Lack of adequate schooling facilities beyond primary
• Girl child marriage
• Poverty
• Illiteracy.

These islands are primarily occupied by Bengali-origin Muslims & other communities (Misings, Deoris, Kocharis, Nepalis) also live here.
How do the Miyas identify themselves?
Miyas community has tried to integrate into the larger Assamese society:

• By speaking Assamese
• Sending their children to Assamese schools
• Declaring Assamese as their language since the 1951 census
• Significant presence in Assamese literary and cultural life.

The community feels to celebrate their own culture and heritage within the larger Assamese fold that like other ethnic groups. The is unique to Assam’s char dwellers because it is a product of a hundred years of assimilation with the Assamese society.

For example:

• Lathibari (Ancient performative martial art). Their version includes donning a white vest and dhoti, an Assamese gamosa on heads and waists.
• Bhatiali geet (speaks of the Brahmaputra river).

Why are some Assamese uncomfortable with that?

• The museum has been proposed in the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra.
• It is a cultural complex centre in Guwahati showcasing the State’s cultural heritage named after neo-Vaishnavite reformer Srimanta Sankardev.
• It was set up as part of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord (“to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people”).
• The fact that the museum is proposed to be part of Kalakshetra (a product of the Assam Accord) hurts Assamese sentiments.