Miya Museum sealed two days after opening in Assam

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the source of fund for the museum will be probed

Local authorities in western Goalpara district in Assam sealed a Miya Museum on October 25, two days after it was inaugurated by an organisation representing migrant Muslims.

A team led by Lakhipur circle officer Rajib Gogoi evicted the items displayed at the museum at Dapkarbhita near Lakhipur town before sealing it. The reason cited was that it was a house built under the Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana-Grameen scheme but converted into a museum.

The local authorities swung into action soon after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma reacted to the museum, which purportedly showcased items intrinsic to the lifestyle and culture of the Bengal or Bengali-origin Muslims.

Often viewed by the indigenous communities as “illegal immigrants” or “Bangladeshis”, this category of Muslims settled down in Assam since the late 1890s when they were brought by the British for commercial farming.

“Those who opened the Miya Museum without intimating the government what would be on display will be made answerable. We will investigate how they received the funds to set up and operate the museum,” Mr. Sarma told journalists.

The police later detained Mohar Ali of Goalpara and Abdul Baten of Dhubri in connection with the setting up of the museum. “Further investigation and interrogation would be carried out about their association with AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent)/ABT (Ansarullah Bangla Team, a Bangladesh-based terror group),” Assam’s Special Director-General of Police, G.P. Singh said.