GUWAHATI: The All Assam Students Union (AASU) has raised doubts over the Centre’s sincerity in implementing Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
Close to seven months have passed since the high-level committee submitted its recommendations, but the report, by the home ministry’s admission, is yet to be handed over to the Centre.
Union minister of state for home, G. Kishan Reddy had in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday stated that the recommendations of the high-level committee, constituted for implementation of Clause 6 of the Accord, “were being examined by the Assam government”.
AASU chief adviser, Samujjal Bhattacharjya on Thursday alleged that the delay apparently indicated “planned inaction” and “reluctance” on the part of the Centre to implement the Clause 6 committee’s report.
“Centre’s claim that the state government is yet to forward report shows hypocrisy and insincerity. (We) demand safeguards as enshrined in the report alongside fulfillment of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister’s promise,” Bhattacharjya informed through Twitter.
The 14-member committee, headed by Justice Biplab Kumar Sharma, a former judge of Gauhati High Court, had submitted the report to the Assam government way back in February this year.
The committee was constituted by the Union home ministry on July 15, 2019, to suggest measures and recommendations for implementation of Clause 6 of the Accord, which pertains to safeguards for the preservation and promotion of Assamese identity and heritage.
Peeved at the silence of the Assam government on the contents of the report and its implementation, AASU, which was a part of the panel, had on August 11, 2020, broken the “confidentiality” of the report and made it public.