Daulat Rahman/Guwahati

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who has been reaching out to Muslims has said there is not much difference between the Assamese Hindus and Muslims when it comes to their social and cultural lifestyle. Assam has the second-highest population of Muslims after Jammu and Kashmir.

Biswas’s said this on Sunday during a solemn function organized by the Assamese Syed Welfare Trust in Guwahati to observe the 21st death anniversary of eminent Padma Shri awardee Syed Abdul Malik. Writer Syed Abdul Malik’s works include 60 novels, 11 plays, five collections of poems, 5 children’s books, 3 travelogues, and 1,000 short stories. Malik’s short story Vibhatsa Vedana is considered the best short story ever written in any Indian language on the trauma of the partition on the common men.

Chief Minister Sarma said there is a perception that the BJP-led government in the State is anti-Muslim. He assured that the Assamese Muslims should not feel insecure; the government is sensitive to the emotions of the Assamese Muslims.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurating book on the occasion

“We (both Hindus and Muslims living in Assam) are accustomed to the ideals and lifestyle of Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardev and Sufi saint Ajan Peer. When I listen to Zikir (devotional songs written by Ajan Peer) I feel the same as my Muslim brothers and sisters feel. During my school days, I had organized Fateha-E-Duaz Daham. 

There are Muslims including Syed Abdul Malik who has written brilliant pieces on Srimanta Sankardev. Till the Assamese people follow teachings and principles of Srimanta Sankardev and Ajan Peer Assam will remain united,” the Chief Minister said. 

Syed Abdul Malik’s most significant work is Dhanya Nara Tanu Bhaal, a novel based on the life and times of Srimanta Sankardeva, the Vaishnavite saint of Assam. The biography was written in Brajavali, a language Srimanta Sankardeva used to spread his Eka Sarana Dharma, a simplified religion based on Bhakti or devotion to Lord Krishna against Vedic ritualism in.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma addressing the function

The dharma that Sankardeva preached proved to be a significant bond among various communities residing in Assam. His research work on Ajan Fakir, a Sufi saint from Baghdad who came to live in Assam in the 17th century has added a new dimension to the communal harmony in Assam apart from giving a new lease of life to the Zikir and Zari songs of Assam.

“My late father had a fond association with Syed Abdul Malik when we were staying in Jorhat district during our childhood days. So, from very my very childhood I used to listen to the literary genius of Malik. His literary works were the epitome of human values and Hindu-Muslim unity. It is heartening to see the Assamese Syed Welfare Trust is trying to immortalize Syed Abdul Malik’s work. It is also the responsibility of my government to preserve the works of Malik for the future generation,” Sarma said.

Speaking at the function on behalf of the Assamese Syed Welfare Trust the Editor-In-Chief of Northeast Live Wasbir Hussain said even though Syed Abdul Malik’s literary genius needs no introduction to the world there is a perception and fear that works of the litterateur might go into oblivion. Hussain has requested Chief Minister Sarma to reintroduce Syed Abdul Malik Literary Award.