Assam to conduct survey of 'indigenous' Muslims: Experts term move divisive, say classification is undemocratic, unconstitutional

The Assam government put forward the idea of a socio-economic census of indigenous Muslims of Assam, except that it decided to drop the term Khilonjiya from the census. According to Mukhi, “The land rights of indigenous people will be secured.” In the same breath, he said, “The government is determined to make Assam extremist-free.” When I spoke to Suhas Chakma, the director of Rights and Risks Analysis Group, he unequivocally termed the socio-economic census of Muslims as “intellectual hogwash”. This is not what is the meaning and purpose of defining the indigenous peoples including under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as the ILO Conventions No.107 and No 169 relating to indigenous and tribal peoples.” Assam’s fear of “land-hungry migrants” These policies make a cultural, racial and linguistic distinction between Assamese and non-Assamese. In the judgment in Assam Sanhmilita Mahasangha v Union of India, where the Supreme Court decides the supervision of an NRC update, the Court reproduced census superintendent CS Mullan’s voice from 1931: “Probably the most important event in the province during the last 25 years – an event, moreover, which seems likely to alter permanently the whole feature of Assam and to destroy the whole structure of Assamese culture and civilization – has been the invasion of a vast horde of land-hungry immigrants mostly Muslims, from the districts of East Bengal. As Amnesty International mentions in its report on Foreigners’ Tribunals, “the highest court in India legitimised the one-dimensional equation of migration with national security as endorsed by the report and justified the use of repressive laws.” Land Rights Committee Things don’t end with the formation of the committee to look into Clause 6 of Assam Accord or with the selective census of just four communities of Muslims.