The Sadou Asom Swahid Pariyal Samannay Rakhi Parishad, the coordinating committee of the martyrs’ families of the Assam Agitation, on Friday reminded state chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal of his vows to protect the indigenous people of the state.
The Parishad asked Sonowal to remember how he became the jatiya nayak (national hero) and then the chief minister of the state.
“Sonowal challenged the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act and informed the Supreme Court that identification of illegal infiltrators in the state should be based on Assam Accord cut-off date of March 24, 1971. Then before elections, he promised to implement the Accord in letter and spirit. Did he forget all about these?” asked Rajen Deka, secretary of the Parishad.
The family members of the Assam movement believed that by imposing the CAA on Assam, the Centre was trying to divide the state once again.
“The CAA has excluded the Sixth Schedule areas of the Northeast, enabling some seven districts to stay out of its purview. But the rest 26 districts will have CAA. We think it’s an attempt to divide Assam and the Northeast. And the state government is a part of this attempt. It’s a shame,” said Chandrakanta Talukdar, the brother of Assam Agitation’s first martyr Khargeswar Talukdar.
At least 860 people were killed in the six-year-long Assam Agitation that began in 1979 against Bangladeshi infiltrators.
Extending their support to the anti-CAA movements across the state, the martyr’s families announced that they would also launch agitation programmes under the Parishad’s banner after Magh Bihu in mid-January.
The families of the martyrs of the Assam Agitation had returned the awards which were given to them as a mark of honour by the BJP government in 2016. They said they felt “insulted” when the BJP-led government decided to go ahead with the CAA.
Earlier, Sonowal had laid the foundation stone of Swahid Smarak Kshetra and Swahid Udyan, to be built in the memory of martyrs of the Assam Agitation.
The entire project would be set up on a site covering more than 98 bighas.