BONGAIGAON, March 23 � The All Koch-Rajbongshi Students� Union (AKRSU), led by Biswajit Ray, today refused to accept the definition of �Assamese� proposed by the Asam Sahitya Sabha and the All Assam Student�s Union.
Addressing a press conference at its head office at Bhakaribhita here today, Ray said, �We, the Koch-Rajbongshi community residing in Kamatapur, are Kamatapuris and our mother tongue is Kamatapuri, not Assamese�.
�Koch-Rajbongshis have a separate identity and are not Assamese at all,� he said and warned that if the definition of Assamese is foisted on Koch-Rajbongshis, then �the situation in the State would be violent.�
�The Assembly Speaker Pranab Gogoi, the Asam Sahitya Sabha and the AASU have no authority to determine the definition of Assamese and the Koch-Rajbongshis would no longer remain under the dominance of the so-called Assamese,� said Biswajit Ray and AKRSU general secretary Pradip Ray.
According to Ray, all those who had migrated from Rangpur in Kamatapur and Mymansing district (now in Bangladesh) before or after 1972 are Indian nationals and there is no foreign national in Kamatapur. �Hence, we�ll have no objection if the definition of Assamese is determined excluding the residents of Kamatapur,� Ray said.
Criticising the pro-Assamese groups, Ray said the attempt to determine the definition of Assamese is a �meaningless� one and there is �no legitimacy� of the Assam Accord in the present context.
