On  6 July, 20222 the Assam government decided to declare five Muslim subgroups – Goria, Moria, Syed, Deshi and Julha as ‘indigenous’ to the state’s population. This categorisation sparked a fresh debate on the Muslim identity question in Assam.  The government defended this move as a measure to ‘safeguard’ the cultural identity of ‘indigenous’ Muslims in Assam.  This decision was based on a report submitted by a sub-committee on ‘Cultural identity of indigenous Assamese Muslims’ constituted by the state government in July 2021.  Apart from the sub-committee on cultural identity, there were other sub-committees formed under the Department of Welfare and Minorities Development last year on health, education, skill development, population stabilisation, financial inclusion and women empowerment headed by prominent Muslim personalities of the state. The sub-committee report on cultural identity ‘estimates’ these distinct indigenous populations to be 42 lakhs out of 1.06 crores of the total Muslim population of the state. Interestingly though, the census of India 2011 does not give any separate demographic data on these different Muslim ethnic groups. This move attempts to distinguish these five categories of Muslims from the rest; particularly those of East Bengali Muslim origin from what was previously part of undivided India and what is now Bangladesh.

This categorisation drew a mixed response from the community, Muslim organisations and political parties. This demand to categorise certain Muslims as indigenous came from some of the community members themselves through their representatives. Many others were either neutral about it or opposed the demand to be a divisive strategy. All Assam Goriya-Moriya Deshi Parishad, a Muslim organisation welcomed this move as a fulfilment of their long pending demand. The organisation’s president said that this move will make their indigenous Muslim communities ‘distinct’ as they have always been clubbed together with East Bengal origin Muslims.  All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), which has a strong presence among Muslims of lower Assam and Barak Valley criticised this categorisation as divisive and unconstitutional. The general secretary of the party termed it as an instrument for intra-Muslim divisive strategy which pits different Muslim groups against each other. Similarly, another Muslim ethnic organisation named ‘Society for Indigenous Muslims of Barak Valley’ slammed the move for not including their community. However, going beyond these different perspectives driven by their interest; this move by the government invites a deeper introspection of contemporary Muslim identity question in Assam.   

The Muslims of Assam in popular writing and opinions are stratified within two broad categories. The first is the local Muslims who are either converts from the local population or prisoners of war captured mostly during the Ahom regime (1228-1826 CE). They have become native Assamese speakers and have largely adopted Assamese culture. The other and numerically prominent category of Muslims is migrants from East Bengal who migrated to Assam from the 19^th century to the early 20^th century during British colonial rule. In recent times many of these community people want to identify themselves as Miya Muslims. The word Miya is traditionally used as a pejorative word by the Assamese people to refer to Muslims of East Bengal origin (Baruah, 2020, p.53).  However, both academically and culturally these two broad and popular binary becomes problematic as each one of them has many subgroups based on their distinct ethnicity, culture and dialect. This binary also excludes the existence of Muslims of Barak Valley who speak Bengali and their conversion process dates back to the thirteenth century (Nath, 2021, p. 22-23).  It also excludes many small and old sub-group of Muslims like the Datia, Dhulu, Tulu and  Muchis who are either converts from the local population or have migrated during medieval times  (Nath, 2021,p. 20-23). There are many Muslims who migrated to Assam from North India during colonial times and after India’s independence in 1947 (Hussain, 1993, p.197). Muslim identity in Assam is thus heterogeneous and calls for a deeper sociological and historical analysis.

Assamese is not a static identity. It is rather a dynamic one which has evolved over the years through a mix of different religions, castes, ethnicities, languages and cultures. Drawing from prominent Assamese writer Imran Shah, historian Yasmin Saikia calls this ‘blended and fused’ historical process of identity formation in Assam as – xanmiholi (Saikia, 2007, p.111-112). Likewise, all the sub-categories of Muslims of Assam have over time been embedded in the fabric of local cultural life partly; if not fully. In this process, there emerged a hybrid form of Muslim identity through cultural engagements and marriages among different Muslim ethnic groups- local or migrant. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the state capital Guwahati and all the major towns of the state. Hence, one of the biggest drawbacks of categorising some groups as indigenous- is that it fails to understand the hybrid identity which emerges through a mix of local and migrant Muslims. It also re-emphasises the much-hyped political binary of indigenous vs. migrant Muslims; widening the scope of further stereotyping of migrant Muslims as illegal immigrants.       

Muslim identity in Assam is more political than cultural. This is reflected in popular debates, writings and in the majority of academic works.  There is a dearth of social-anthropological literature on Muslims of Assam highlighting the ethnic diversity and their cultural contribution towards contemporary Assamese socio-cultural life. Muslim identity is often invoked within the political domain- especially after the introduction of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and subsequent developments. Rather than acknowledging the rich cultural and historical contribution of different sections of Muslims towards Assamese culture, the Muslim identity question is usually discussed along with issues of migration, citizenship, demography and electoral politics. Even though the migrant Muslims from East Bengal have over time become part of the local culture; they have stated their language to be Assamese in every census; yet they are often stereotyped as ‘illegal immigrants,’ ‘Bangladeshi’ etc. Jyotiprasad Agarwala, arguably the most prominent cultural icon of Assam in his famous poem ‘Akhmomiya Dekar Ukti’ written in 1943 addressed the East Bengal origin Muslims of Assam as ‘Na-Axomiya’ (neo-Assamese). He believed in the idea of an Assamese community based on inclusion- integrating people across communities, geographies, cultures and religions. Agarwala’s idea of an inclusive Assamese identity remains radically exemplary; with little in common to the practice in contemporary times.   

The Sachar Committee report published in 2006 highlights the worrying scenario of the socio-economic backwardness of Muslims in India. Assam is no exception in this regard with issues of education, employment, healthcare, access to resources etc. This scene is particularly worrying for Muslims living in char-chapori (riverine) areas of Brahmaputra and many of its tributaries. They face the everyday struggle of healthcare, education, citizenship crisis and basic infrastructure; coupled with multiple displacements due to annual floods in Assam. Virtually isolated geographically and culturally from mainstream society, these people are also stigmatised as illegal settlers or doubtful citizens.  Often these socio-economic issues of such marginalised groups are overshadowed by politics of indigeneity and exclusion.  It is imperative to prioritise the socio-economic development of the marginalised population rather than othering them; for the overall development of the state and society.

In a report published in The Hindu on 10 February 2020, it was stated that the government planned for a survey to identify and document the ‘indigenous Muslims’ to distinguish themselves from the ‘immigrant’ Muslims.  It is fundamentally flawed to call one community or individual an ‘immigrant’ who is not a first-generation migrant and holds Indian citizenship.  At this juncture, it is too early to say what kinds of benefits each community would derive from such categorisation of indigenous and others.  But for sure, this reinforces a new form of biopolitics based on Muslim identity in the state of Assam.  

References:

Baruah, S. (2020). In the Name of the Nation: India and its Northeast. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

Hussain, M.(1993). The Assam Movement: Class, Ideology and Identity. New Delhi: Manak Publication

Nath, M. K. (2021).The Muslim Question in Assam and Northeast India. New York: Routledge.

Saikia, Y (2017). The Muslims of Assam: Present/Absent History. In Saikia, Y & Baishya, A R (Ed.). Northeast India: A Place of Relations. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press.

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Shofiul Alom Pathan is a Ph.D. candidate at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. His research interests include minority studies, citizenship, ethnicity and political anthropology.