WHO ARE THE MIYAS IN ASSAM?

Unlike in the rest of India, where 'Mian' still retains its old sense as a form of address to a respectable person, the term 'Miya' in Assam is a pejorative denoting Bangla-speaking Muslims of immigrant origin, whose numbers are estimated to be around 10 million currently. They are often perceived to have illegally entered India from Bangladesh. Though most of them claim to have stayed in Assam for generations, Assamese nationalist organisations have long been demanding their detection and deportation to Bangladesh. The draft National Register of Citizenship (NRC), prepared in 2019 under the supervision of the Supreme Court, to detect illegal immigrants in the state, found 1.9 million people who were not eligible for citizenship. While this number has been disputed by all stakeholders, the Miya community has responded to the crisis in variable ways: many seek acceptance within the Assamese spectrum, while some have chosen a more defiant vein, embracing the term 'Miya' to assert a distinctive identity. Thus, the demand for a Miya Museum and a celebration of Miya poetry. The latter, rendered in a variety of Bangla, runs up against a historical antagonism though, adding to the cocktail of ethnolinguistic and religious politics.