It may sound strange, but it’s true — Assam is yet to get a definition as to who is an ‘Assamese’. Assam’s Minister for Assam Accord implementation department Bhumidhar Barman said this on Tuesday while replying to a question by the Opposition members during the ongoing Budget Session of the State Assembly.
The answer from the Government came when Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) legislator Keshav Mahanta asked about the status of implementation of the Clause VI of the historical Assam Accord, which promised to provide constitutional safeguard to the people of Assam.
“There is no definition of the ‘Assamese’ people so far. The subsequent Governments in Assam have been failing to finalise a definition of the ‘Assamese’ so far. The Government had also urged the Axom Xahitya Xabha (AXX), the apex literary body of the State, to find a definition of indigenous Assamese. However, they are also yet to finalise a definition,” said the Minister while replying to the question.
The Clause VI of the Assam Accord says, “Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguard as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of Assamese people.”
The six-year long anti-foreigners’ movement, which was carried out by the All Assam Students’ Union (Aasu) and the Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AGSP) culminated in the Assam Accord which was signed in presence of the then Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi on August 15, 1985.
Although 855 people had laid down their lives across the State during the agitation between 1979-1985, the Accord is yet to be implemented in Assam due to various reasons. The implementation of the historical Accord remained a distant dream till today even if the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which was formed by the agitation of leaders, have came to power twice in Assam-in 1985 and in 1996.
Barman further informed the House that over 38,000 people have been identified as Bangladeshi infiltrators in Assam since 1985 by the IM(DT) tribunal and by the foreigners’ tribunals set up after scrapping of the IM(DT). However, the State could deport only 2,014 of the identified Bangladeshis, 68 of them are in detention camp at present and over 35,000 others have either died or absconded.
The Speaker of the House Pranab Gogoi on Tuesday expressed his concern over the issue of illegal immigration from Bangladesh and said that sealing of the Indo-Bangladesh Border is must to stop the problem of infiltration.