ABSTRACT
The debates on the citizenship question of Muslims in postcolonial Assam have always been contentious. There exist incidents of collective violence, stereotyping of foreigner, the everyday ‘other’, ‘cultural polluter’ and ‘threat to demography’ on one side. On the other side, we see the image of a ‘good Muslim’ who is culturally and linguistically similar. Starting from late 19th- and early 20th-century discourse of Muslim migration from East Bengal (now Bangladesh), Assam Movement (1979–85) till today’s 'citizenship crisis in Assam, in popular public opinion, the issue of Muslim migration and Muslim citizenshipis projected as part of a contentious politics. This issue is perceived as a ‘political project’ to outnumber the ‘indigenous’ people of Assam rather than understanding the issue through historical perspectives of colonialism and politics of Muslim League before independence and present postcolonial complexities. The recent politics over citizenship and proposal identify, ‘document’ and categorize the ‘indigenous’ Muslims has resulted in multiple narratives on identity and citizenship among Muslims in Assam. Assamese nationalist imagination, often haunted by an imaginary specter of millions of “Bangladeshi Muslims” in Assam, again seems to fall back on an age-old narrative of “unprecedented migration from Bangladesh” by virtually rejecting the legal process of up-gradation of a citizenship list in Assam. Thus, considering both the idea of historical issues and contemporary crisis, this chapter interrogates the trajectory of politics and polemics regarding the Muslim citizenship question in Assam. The chapter would also try to engage with the idea of the recent citizenship debate and the internal dynamics of different Muslim identities in Assam. Taking narratives from various sections of Muslims in Assam, the chapter also tries to explain how the discourse on Muslim citizenship in Assam is more of majoritarian cultural imagination than rational, legal and constitutional rights–based notion of modern citizenship.
