The recommendations from the panel are on the issue of protecting and safeguarding the identities and culture of the native Assamese people against the outsiders. Clause 6 of the Assam Accord is focused on just that; protecting the linguistic, cultural and racial identity of the indigenous people of the state of Assam against other infiltrators.
Historical Context
The Assam Accord was a three-way agreement signed between the Government of India, the State of Assam and the people who were leading the Assam Movement in 1985. The accord was a conclusion of the six year long turbulence in the region that was launched by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) in 1979 as a result of the heavy infiltration of outsiders in the state of Assam. The AASU demanded that such illegal immigrants be identified and removed from the state. They claimed that these people are encroaching on their land and hogging on the resources that were meant for the native Assamese people.
The sixth clause of the Assam Accord was written keeping this very problem in mind. It directed the state to safeguard and preserve the Assamese culture through legislative and administrative measures. While most of the other clauses part of the Assam Accord were eventually implemented, clause 6 was still regarded with uncertainty. This is because the definition of who is considered an Assamese person was still under question, with many saying that an Assamese person is anyone who has been residing in the state of Assam since 1951.
The issue gained popular attention again in 2019 following the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register for Citizens (NRC) protests. To address that, a 14 member committee was set up called the Biplab Sarma Committee. The panel was successful in identifying the issue and the solution and also submitted a 91 pages long report in February of 2020. However the implementation of clause 6 was put on hold and delayed for almost 3 decades.
The decision has gained renewed attention now that news of a native minor girl by the Bengali Muslims in Central Assam has broken to the public. They find the foreigners to be aggressive and therefore are asking for safeguards against them.
Implementation of Clause 6
The State Government announced that it aims to implement 57 out of the 67 recommendations presented by the panel by April of 2025. The government plans to discuss the implementations of the recommendations with AASU which was at the forefront of the anti-foreigners movement as well as other pressure groups in the region. The autonomous councils within Assam would also be included in these discussions so as to not hurt anyone’s sentiments.
