NEW DELHI, Aug 11 - In the face of demands by the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) to review the implementation of the Assam Accord, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today announced that he would undertake a border visit later this month to take stock of the border management measures.
The Home Minister, who was addressing a two-day national seminar, �30 years of Assam Accord: Issues, Challenges and Implementation�, organised by the AASU at the Constitution Club of India, further said he would hold a tripartite review meeting of the implementation of the Assam Accord.
Accompanied by Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Sarbananda Sonowal, Singh, who inaugurated the national seminar, lauded the role of the student body in spearheading the movement against the illegal Bangladeshi migrants. �AASU�s movement would be remembered as the first such movement in history against the illegal migrants,� he said.
Sharing the concern of the student body, Singh said that the exercise to implement the Assam Accord was found wanting. �Dr Manmohan Singh reviewed the implementation of the Accord in 2005. Some work was done, but much remains to be undertaken,� he said.
Assuring that the Centre was committed to securing the international border with Bangladesh, Singh said he has decided to visit the Border. He said he would undertake the visit after August 15, but before the month expires. �I will undertake the visit to take stock of the border management measures and to find out the loopholes.
�I will also sit with AASU to review the implementation of the Assam Accord and to ensure its proper execution,� the Union Home Minister said.
Observing that AASU�s demand was genuine, the Union Home Minister said that whoever was an Indian citizen would stay in India. The Government of India was holding consultations on the steps to be taken to detect illegal migrants. �Many things are under process,� he said.
�The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is being updated under supervision of the Supreme Court. Some difficulties are being faced by some people. But the interests of the Indian citizens will be protected,� he said, obviously referring to the Bengali Hindus.
Addressing the meeting, Sonowal said several important clauses of the Assam Accord were yet to be implemented. Sealing of the Indo-Bangladesh border and detection and deportation of the illegal migrants which were the prime demands, were not implemented, he said.
In the coming days, it would be the endeavour of the NDA government to safeguard the Assamese people and to deport the illegal migrants. �We have to keep fighting until the Assamese people get full constitutional protection,� Sonowal said.
�The apprehension of the Assamese people should be addressed by ensuring constitutional safeguard,� he said, adding that he was confident that in the coming days a solution would be worked out.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chancellor of Dibrugarh University Alok Kumar Buragohain said Assam�s problem of illegal infiltration was not a problem of the State alone, but of the entire nation.
