Goods displayed inside the controversial ‘Miya Sangrahalaya’ set up in Gopalpara, Assam.
– Photo : PTI
The controversy surrounding the opening of ‘Miya Museum’ in a house built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in Goalpara, Assam is getting deeper. Meanwhile, five people, including the president and general secretary of the Asom Miya Parishad, have been arrested for allegedly having links with terrorist organizations under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The police gave this information on Wednesday.
The development comes after the controversial ‘Miya Sangrahalaya’ set up in a house allotted under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Assam’s Goalpara district was sealed on Tuesday, two days after it was opened to the public. Police said Miya Parishad president M Mohar Ali was nabbed from the museum at Dapkabhita in Goalpara district when he was sitting on a dharna, while its general secretary Abdul Baten Shaikh was detained from his residence in Alamganj in Dhubri district on Tuesday night. was taken.
Tanu Dhadumiya, a member of the Ahom Royal Society, who inaugurated the museum on Sunday, was detained from his residence in Kawamari village in Dibrugarh, they said. A senior police official said that the three were brought to Ghograpar police station under various sections of the UAPA for investigation and interrogation of their alleged links with ‘Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent’ (AQIS) and ‘Ansarul Bangla Team’ (ABT) organisations. Was taken to Nalbari in connection with a case registered. Another Nalbari district official said that the establishment of ‘Miya Sangrahalaya’ and the involvement of Mohar Ali, Baten Shaikh and Dhadumiya were revealed during the interrogation of some radicals arrested recently.
Police said two other persons – Sadiq Ali and Jakibul Ali – were apprehended last week from Howli in Barpeta and Ghograpar in Nalbari for their alleged links with radical organisations. Police said both were arrested by the Nalbari police on Wednesday, but they have nothing to do with the establishment of the ‘Miya Sangrahalaya’.
All the five men were produced in the court on Wednesday, out of which Ali, Sheikh and Dhadumiya were remanded to two days’ police custody, while two others were remanded to five-day police custody. Meanwhile, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson told PTI in Guwahati that Dhadumiya has been expelled from the party as he had failed to discharge his duties.
A team of government officials had on Tuesday sealed the ‘Miya Sangrahalaya’ at Dapkabhita and put up a notice that it was done on the orders of the Deputy Commissioner. He said that some agricultural and fisheries equipment, towels and ‘lungi’ were on display in the museum. Before being taken into custody, Mohar Ali, along with his two minor sons, was sitting on a dharna outside their house demanding the immediate reopening of the museum.
Ali said that we are showcasing the objects to which the community identifies itself so that the people of other communities can feel that “Miya” is not separate from them. In Assam, the term ‘Miya’ is used to refer to Bengali-speaking migrants whose roots connect to Bangladesh.
After the inauguration of the Miya Museum on Sunday, senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded immediate closure of the museum and the party’s Minority Morcha member Abdur Rahim Gibran opposed the establishment of the museum in the house allotted under the PMAY. A complaint was lodged at Lakhipur police station. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said on Tuesday that such activities of some members of the ‘Miya’ community pose a threat to the ‘identity of Assamese’.
Sarma said on the sidelines of an event that how can they (the ‘Miya’ community) claim that the solution is their identity? It has been used by all the farmers throughout the state for centuries. ‘Lungi’ is the only item they can lay claim to. He said those who have set up the museum will have to answer to the expert committee as to the basis of their claim.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Abdul Khaleque said that there is no community named ‘Miya’ first but it is an honorable address. Khaleque said that people have the right to open a cultural museum or library in their home, but I do not believe that there is any need to set up a community museum.
Barpeta MP Khaleque said however, it is injustice to arrest someone for setting up a museum and to file a case against that person under terror laws. Khalek said the community should also be careful about claiming commodities like plows as they are used by all farmers across the subcontinent.
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Aminul Islam said the party was against opening of ‘Miya Sangrahalaya’ but the reasons for its establishment should be looked into. He said the people of the community have been feeling humiliated over the years and this is a reaction out of their desperation.
Eminent advocate Nekibur Zaman submitted that the establishment of the museum is a conspiracy by a section of the community to create division in the Assamese society. Jaman said that we have been hearing about things like ‘Miya’ museum, school, poetry and even demand for creating an autonomous council by merging Dhubri and Barpeta in recent years. He claimed that it is because of vested interests of some forces who want to endanger the Assamese culture and identity. It is noteworthy that the proposal to set up ‘Miya Sangrahalaya’ was first given by Congress MLA Sharman Ali Ahmed in the year 2020, which was rejected by the Chief Minister.
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