Assam’s indigenous Muslims may soon get a development board

GUWAHATI: Assam’s minorities welfare minister Ranjit Dutta has said the proposal to create a development board for the Goria, Moria, Deshi and Jolah Muslim communities could soon be sent to Cabinet for approval. People belonging to these communities are often referred to as indigenous Muslims of Assam.

“After the creation of the board, a survey will be done to ascertain the number of people from these communities across the state,” Dutta told ET, adding that the proposal is being examined by the finance department. Assam’s finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier said that socio-economic census of indigenous Muslims will solve the problem of “identity” which the Assamese Muslim community has faced for long.

In the state budget for 2019-20, Sarma had proposed to conduct a census of indigenous Muslims, saying it will help assess their socio-economic condition. The budget also proposed a development corporation for indigenous Muslims. Dutta said: “During the Congress regime earlier, some councils were created for these people. We have sought opinion from different departments and examined the same legally. The proposal is now in the finance department. Once the finance department clears it, we will come to the Cabinet for approval.


However, it will be a board, not a corporation as proposed earlier.” He said process of survey will start once this is done. “This will be a critical job, for during the survey there are chances that Bangladeshi Muslims might try to get their names enrolled.

We will fulfill our budget promise.” Muslims comprise 34% of the 31.2 million population of Assam, of which 4% are indigenous Assamese Muslims and the remaining mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims.