The Assam government on Tuesday announced a plum financial assistance to Asam Sahitya Sabha, which is against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and other indigenous literary bodies.

After a meeting with the literary bodies here, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the government would give Rs 10 crore to Asam Sahitya Sabha, Rs 5 crore to Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) and Rs 3 crore to each of the literary bodies of other indigenous communities. The assistance was announced under Bhasha Gaurav, a Rs 100-crore scheme announced in the 2019-20 budget that aims at developing the indigenous languages of the state. The aid is the latest in a string of sops announced by the government in the backdrop of CAA protests. Dispur had earlier announced a one-time grant of Rs 50,000 to 2,000 artistes and 1,000 budding sportspersons.

In a statement, the government said the one-time financial assistance would be deposited in the corpus fund of the literary bodies. “Asam Sahitya Sabha will be able to derive Rs 80 lakh annually as interest from the corpus fund while Bodo Sahitya Sabha would receive Rs 40 lakh and other indigenous sahitya sabhas would get Rs 24 lakh.”

The meeting was skipped by the president and general secretary of Asam Sahitya Sabha who have been vocal against CAA. A three-member delegation, headed by the Sabha’s vice-president, Hemanta Kumar Baruah, attended the meeting.

“Now is the time to discuss CAA, inner-line permit and land policy. We skipped the meeting as we did not want to be a hindrance to the scheme,” Sabha general secretary Padum Rajkhowa said, adding that the Sabha is firm on its anti-CAA stand.

Sources said before the meeting began, the Sabha delegates proposed a minute’s silence in memory of the five persons who died in suspected police firing during anti-CAA protests. “Sonowal immediately diverted the topic and started talking about the government’s offer under Bhasha Gaurav,” a source said.

Sonowal also reiterated his August 15 announcement of a one-time financial grant of Rs 50,000 to 1,000 budding writers of various communities under Bhasha Gaurav. He urged the indigenous literary bodies to put emphasis on research work for preservation and promotion of indigenous language and culture and assured all help from the state government.

Besides Assam Sahitya Sabha and BSS, the meeting was attended by Indigenous Tribal Sahitya Sabha Assam, Deori Sahitya Sabha, Dimasa Sahitya Sabha, Asom Nepali Sahitya Sabha, Nikhil Rabha Sahitya Sabha, Karbi Sahitya Sabha, Mising Sahitya Sabha, Nikhil Bishnupriya Sahitya Sabha, Purbanchal Tai Sahitya Sabha, Tiwa Sahitya Sabha, Asom Manipuri Sahitya Parishad, Garo Sahitya Sabha, Moran Sahitya Sabha, Asom Chah Janagusti Sahitya Sabha, Sonowal Kachari Sahitya Sabha, Kurukh Sahitya Sabha, Koch-Rajbongshi Sahitya Sabha, Shautal Sahitya Sabha, Mundari Sahitya Sabha and Sarania Kachari Sahitya Sabha.