GUWAHATI: Goalpara Congress MLA AK Rashid Alam on Wednesday speaking to News Live said that the diverse cultural identities of the people residing in Assam create the greater Assamese community and Assam is incomplete without Miyas.
On the Miya Museum issue Rashid Alam said that these are minor issues. Along with the Miyas, other tribes of Assam who are left back should also get a place in the Cultural Museum at the Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati.
“The Departmentally Related Standing Committee (DRSC) discusses these topics and I was also a member of the committee before Sherman Ali. We, the committee members, discuss and recommend such things for the Museum,” said Goalpara MLA AK Rashid Alam.
“Sherman has just recommended the Museum and there was no need for so much of a controversy. There shouldn’t be any politics with this issue. Not only, Miyas, but all other people residing in Assam must have their own museum reflecting the culture and heritage of their people,” Alam added.
Alam further added, “All those residing in Assam create the Assamese community. We are ‘Brihottor Okhomiya’. People residing in Assam may follow Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu religion and that altogether is ‘Okhomiya’. Can we make ‘Okhomiya’ without Miya?”
“Our people have made a large contribution in preserving the language and culture of the Assamese people. We speak Assamese, our language is Assamese. If someone says that Miyas are not a part of the Assamese community then there will be no existence of the Assamese in Assam. There is no reason for creating an issue for this small thing,” said the Congress MLA.
