Saying ‘Miya’ not unconstitutional; term coined by Bangladesh Muslims: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
Talking to media persons on Thursday, he said, “Those who came from Bangladesh they gave themselves Miya name to themselves, I have not given this name. They only said to call them Miya. They wrote Miya poems.”
“If I say Miya, Assamese people may also say, where is the problem? This is not democratic. The Supreme Court of India had said that Assam was under occupation. In its decision, the court said that these people from Bangladesh had occupied Assam. While the court used the word Muslim, I do not use the word Muslim because it will include the native Muslims of Assam. That is why I use the term Miya, not Muslim.”
“The Supreme Court revealed the data on the increase in the Muslim population. Didn’t Muslims from Bangladesh come to Assam? Where am I doing wrong? If I’m wrong, prove me wrong. How did it become 60 percent in districts where the Muslim population was 10 percent?”
Sarma said, “What former chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi and Bishnu Ram Medhi said, if I say 5 per cent, he will cry and cry here. If Gopinath Bordoloi is not right, let the Congress party say that their chief minister is wrong.”
Miya’ is a derogatory term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam whose ancestral roots are in Bangladesh. Bengali-speaking Muslims are often called Miya Muslims. Muslims constitute 34% of Assam’s 3.12 crore population; 4% of them are native Assamese Muslims and the rest are mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Sarma continues his tirade against Miya and announces that he will create trouble for them so that they can leave the state.
