category. Ahom people today Ahom people today are categorised in the other backward classes (OBC) caste category; there is longstanding discussion and demand for Scheduled Tribe status. The term "ethnic Assamese" is now associated by the Indian government with the various indigenous Assamese people. According to Anthony Van Nostrand Diller, possibly eight million speakers of Assamese can claim genetic descent from the Ahoms. However, historian Yasmin Saikia argues that in pre-colonial times, the Ahoms were not an ethnic community, but were a relatively open status group. Any community coming into the socio-economic fold of the Ahom state could claim the Ahom status with active consent of the king. Notable people Dip Gogoi Tarun Gogoi Ranjan Gogoi Padmanath Gohain Baruah Krishna Kanta Handique Jatindra Nath Duwara Hiren Gohain Kushal Konwar Gomdhar Konwar Benudhar Rajkhowa Nagen Saikia Hiteswar Saikia Laluksola Borphukan Homen Borgohain Lachit Borphukan Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa Lila Gogoi See also Ahom Dynasty Ahom history All Tai Ahom Students Union Assamese people Tibeto-Burman and Tai peoples of Assam Hengdang Notes References Further reading Phukon, G. (1998). State of Tai culture among the Ahoms. [Assam, India?]: G. Phukon. External links The Tai-Ahom connection by Yasmin Saikia in Gateway to the East, June 2005. Polities mentioned in the Chinese Ming Shi-lu, several references are made to a Tai Ahom kingdom in this translation of an important Ming dynasty historical source Assamese nationalism Tai history Tai peoples Social groups of Assam Ahom kingdom Ethnic groups in Northeast India Tribes of Assam Ethnic groups in South Asia Ethnic groups in India