New Delhi: More than a hundred members of Assamese civil society have responded to a recent public statement issued by academics and activists expressing solidarity with the 10 Miyah poets against whom FIRs had been filed.The latest statement, issued in Guwahati on July 27, has been signed by 129 academics, writers, researchers and activists, among others. All of them are residents of Assam. These 129 signatories have pointed out what they call are “certain contradictions and inconsistencies” in the earlier statement issued on July 22.The July 22 statement was a note of support for Miyah poets who had been accused of portraying Assamese society as “xenophobic” to those outside of Assam, through their writings.“In the very first paragraph of the [July 22] statement, Dr Hafiz Ahmed has been referred to as a ‘senior Miyah poet’. We would like to point out that Dr Ahmed’s PhD thesis was on the contribution of Bengal-origin Assamese Muslims towards Assamese literature. The reference to this Assamese Muslim as a ‘Miyah’ poet is unfortunate,” reads the July 27 statement.The statement also said that the July 22 document interchangeably used the terms “Bengal origin Muslims of Assam” and “Bengali-origin Muslims of Assam.”Also read: Miyah Poetry in the Time of Nationalism“It surprises us that the esteemed signatories of the public statement have overlooked the obvious differences between the phrases”, it said, adding, “Interestingly, in this discourse, the term ‘Assamese’ has been conveniently erased from all references made to the said poets and their poetry, whereas the majority of the population referred to by the term ‘Miyah’ by these signatories has been calling themselves Asomiya. Most of them have been returning Assamese as their mother tongue in the census and are proud to be Asomiya.”“Despite some serious violent incidents taking place because of the chauvinist politics of a section that occasionally sway the Assamese masses, there has been communal harmony between the mainstream Assamese and the Bengal-origin residents of the char areas. The signatories have in fact themselves driven a wedge between the communities by inserting the term Bengali,” the new statement has asserted.It added, “The politics of creating divisions amongst various sections of the people of Assam under the pretext of protesting against the atrocities on the immigrant Muslim population settled in Assam becomes obvious from the fact that both the poetry and the discourse sought to be constructed around it ignores the very fact that both the democratic sections of Assam have actually been making serious efforts to eradicate the unacceptable practice of using ‘miyah’ as a derogatory term by some sections of the people of Assam though others have been using it as a respectable form of address. These ‘Miyah’ poets and their supporters seem to project the offensive trolls of a small section of the wayward Assamese young boys and girls as representative of the entire community.”The full statement, with the names of the signatories, can be read below:Public Statement on Miyah Poetry by The Wire on Scribd