Muslim migrants were in for a snub in the northeast Indian state of Assam when the local authorities sealed a "Miya Museum", barely two days after it was opened.
'Miya' is a derogatory term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims, many of whom have been tarred as illegal migrants from then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, staying in Assam without valid documents.
The museum houses certain objects with which the community identifies itself, but Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asserts that the items on display were part of "Assamese culture".
The local authorities are shutting down the museum because it ran out of a house built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PM's rural housing scheme) in Goalpara district, a four-hour drive from the India-Bangladesh border.
A probe has also been ordered to find out the source of funding of the museum.
The All Assam Miya Parishad justified the museum saying the purpose was to preserve the cultural heritage of the Miyas.
Items used by the community like 'lungi', plough and fishing equipment, have been kept in the museum.
But, the chief minister countered the Parishad's claim saying only 'lungi' belong to Miyas. Everyone uses the plough, he said, daring them to justify their claim that the items on display pertained exclusively to their tradition and culture.
Sarma also slammed a group of youths who had propagated Miya poetry in the past. "After Miya poetry, we saw Miya schools. And now, a Miya museum."
Recently, four private madrasas (Muslim seminaries) were razed by the administration in Morigaon, Bongaigaon and Goalpara districts over allegations of their involvement with the terror outfit – al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent and the Ansarullah Bangla Team.
Assam witnessed a prolonged anti-foreigner movement in the 1980s and illegal immigration remains a festering issue in the state bordering Bangladesh. However, Muslims constitute 35 percent of the state's population and the chief minister says, "they cannot be minority".
