Assam Miya Museum setup: Miya Parishad president and general secretary arrested

• Image Credit: Republic world

• Oct 27, 2022 | Poonam Nath

The arrests came after the controversial 'Miya Museum,' housed under the PM's Awas Yojana in Assam's Goalpara district, was sealed on Tuesday.

Digital Desk: The police stated that the president and general secretary of Assam Miya Parishad, as well as three others, were arrested under the severe Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for their alleged affiliation with terror organisations. 

The arrests came just two days after the infamous 'Miya Museum,' which was set up in a house granted under the Prime Minister's Awas Yojana in Assam's Goalpara district, was sealed.

On Tuesday night, police arrested Miya Parishad president M Mohar Ali from the museum at Dapkabhita in Goalpara district while staging a dharna, and its general secretary Abdul Baten Sheikh from his apartment in Alamganj in Dhubri district. 

Tanu Dhadumia, a member of the Ahom Royal Society, was picked up from his residence in Kawamari village in Dibrugarh, according to police.

According to a senior police officer, the trio were taken to Nalbari in connection with a case registered at the Ghograpar police station under various sections of the UAPA for investigation and interrogation for their alleged association with the militant outfits Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Ansarul Bangla Team (ABT). 

Another Nalbari district police officer stated that the establishment of the 'Miya Museum' and the involvement of Ali, Sheikh, and Dhadumia was disclosed during the interrogation of a few extremists captured recently.

Sadeq Ali and Jekibul Ali were detained last week in Howly, Barpeta, and Ghograpar, Nalbari, for alleged links to violent fundamentalist organisations. The two were arrested by Nalbari police on Wednesday but are not connected to the establishment of the 'Miya Museum,' according to the police.

On Wednesday, all five guys were brought before the court. Ali, Sheikh, and Dhadumia were remanded in police custody for two days, while the other two were remanded for five days. 

Meanwhile, an AAP official in Guwahati reported that Dhadumia, the party's leader, had been ousted because he had failed in his obligations. 

On Tuesday, a team of government authorities locked the 'Miya Museum' and posted a sign stating that it was done on the deputy commissioner's orders. 

The museum displayed farming implements and fishing equipment, as well as hand towels and 'lungis.'

Before being arrested, Ali sat on a dharna outside the house with his two minor sons, demanding that the administration reopen the repository immediately.

Following the Miya Museum's inauguration on Sunday, prominent BJP leaders demanded its immediate shutdown, and the party's Minority Morcha member Abdur Rahim Gibran filed a complaint at Lakhipur police station against the museum's establishment in a PMAY-allotted house. 

According to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, such practises by some members of the Miya community "represent a threat to Assamese identity." 

"How can they (the Miya' community) say the plough is their identity?" It has long been utilised by all farmers in the state. Only the lungi can be claimed as their own," Sarma said on the sidelines of a programme.

According to renowned lawyer Nekibur Zaman, the museum's establishment is a plot by a part of the community to create a schism in Assamese society. 

Miya Museum, schools, poetry, and even the proposal for autonomous councils comprised of Dhubri and Barpeta are the just the recent hearsay. He said that these are the efforts of some elements with vested interests to undermine Assamese society's culture and identity. 

Former Congress MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed proposed the establishment of a Miya Museum in 2020, which the chief minister rejected.