A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Gauhati High Court sought to challenge the state government’s decision to uplift the five indigenous Muslim communities of Assam without including the Muslims of Barak Valley, while challenging the validity of a welfare scheme based on religious identity.
Assam has the highest Muslim population after Jammu and Kashmir. Muslims comprise 34% of the 3.12 crore population of Assam, of which 4% are indigenous Assamese Muslims and the remaining mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims. The BJP led government in Assam had earlier proposed the creation of a development board for indigenous Muslims communities.