DISTRIBUTION OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY (ASSAM MUSLIMS)

1. Why in News?

• The Assam Cabinet approved the identification of five communities — Goriya, Moriya, Julha, Deshi, and Syed — as “indigenous” Assamese Muslims.
• This effectively sets them apart from Bengali-speaking Muslims, who — or whose ancestors — migrated at various points of time from the region that was once East Bengal, and later became East Pakistan and Bangladesh

2. Background

• While many sub-groups exist, this aspect of population dynamics is best understood by looking at Muslims of Assam as belonging to two broad categories. 
• The larger of the two categories comprise Muslims who speak Bengali, or whose roots lie in Bengal, and who settled in Assam at various times after undivided Assam was annexed to British India in 1826. 
• The numerically smaller broad category comprises the “Assamese Muslims”, who speak Assamese as their mother tongue, and who trace their ancestries back to the Ahom kingdom(1228-1826). By and large, they see themselves as part of the larger Assamese Speaking community, together with Assamese Hindus, and many of them are very conscious about being distinct from the Bengal-origin Muslims. “Assam has a significant Muslim population.
• Within that, there is a section that has migrated to Assam at different points in time. However, there are certain Muslim groups, too, who are native to the state and have long agitated to safeguard their cultural identity.
• The Government of Assam recognised their struggle and identified these groups as ‘indigenous’

3. Cultural identity of Indigenous Muslims

• DESHI: Believed to be among the first batches of people in Assam to have embraced Islam, Deshi traces their lineage to Ali Mech, a Koch-Rajbongshi chieftain who converted to Islam during the invasion of Bakhtiyar Khilji around1205AD. 
• SYED: Sufi preachers settled in Assam At various times, the earliest by some accounts being Syed Badiuddin Shah Mada (Madan Pir)in1497,andthebestknownbeingSyed Moinuddin Baghdadi (Azan Pir or Azan Fakir) around 1630. The Syed community comprises descendants of their followers. 
• GORIYA: In a series of attempted invasions by the Mughals between 1615 and 1682, the Ahom regime took several soldiers and prisoners. Many of these were from Gaur in ancient Bengal, hence the name Goriya. “These people settled in  Assam and married local women and gradually became a part of the Assamese society,” the report says. It mentions tribals/Hinduswhoconvertedto IslamduringAzaanPir’stime; they too came tobeknownasGoriya. 
• MORIYA: Again, descendants of prisoners of war, captured by the Ahoms after an attempted invasion by Turbak Khan in the 16th century.
• JULHA: A small community, originally from undivided Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal, and believed to be converted from Adivasis. They migrated as weavers during the home regime, and tea garden workers during British rule in the 19th century.

4. The need for identification by Assam Govt

• Greater political representation of Assamese Muslims including reservation of a Rajya Sabha seat, reservation in jobs, and various measures for the preservation of Assamese Muslim culture. 
• The main aim for this was to improve the socio-economic status of Muslims in Assam which can lead to Reduced vulnerability.