GUWAHATI, June 15 - The All Assam Students� Union (AASU) has expressed dismay over the silence of the State and Central Governments on implementation of the recommendations of the committee formed to suggest measures for implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord and demanded that the report of the committee should be made public.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who accepted the report of the committee on behalf of the Union Home Minister, should clarify whether he handed over the report to the Centre and what is the stand of the State Government in this regard. On its part, the Centre should announce when the recommendations given by the committee would be implemented, he said.
Bhattacharya pointed out that in Clause 6 of the Accord, the Central Government promised to provide constitutional protection to �Assamese people� because Assam had to take the burden of foreign nationals who entered the country from 1951 to 1971. Giving details of the events leading to the submission of the report by the committee, he said that way back in 1998, a tripartite committee headed by the then Joint Secretary (North East) of the Union Home Ministry, GP Pillai was formed in 1998 to recommend measures for implementation of Clause 6 of the Accord, but the move failed to yield the desired results because of lack of political will of the Government.
Bhattacharya said that the Government issued a notification on July 15, 2019 to form a committee headed by Justice (Retd) Biplab Sarma to suggest measures for implementation of Clause 6 of the Accord. The committee completed its report on February 10 this year and informed the Home Ministry thrice. But the Union Home Minister could not find time to receive the report and finally the Chief Minister received the report on behalf of the Union Home Minister on February 25. Interestingly, the Joint Secretary (North East) of the Union Home Ministry, who was the member secretary of the committee, did not sign the report.
Bhattacharya pointed out that on several occasions, the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister had announced that the recommendations of the committee would be implemented immediately after receiving it. The Home Minister even announced in the Parliament that the recommendations would be implemented immediately after receiving it. But the Centre is quiet after the submission of the report and the Chief Minister also failed to clarify the stand of the State Government in this regard, he added.
