The Assam government and the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Wednesday discussed the implementation of Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sharma committee’s recommendations on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord to protect the interests of the indigenous population.

The government on Wednesday evening said that there was “more or less 100 per cent consensus” on implementing 40 recommendations of the committee.

The BJP-led state administration has accepted 1951 as the cut-off year for deciding who is an Assamese “in spirit” but it is restricted to only certain specific recommendations of the panel, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced at a press meet.

The MHA-constituted Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sharma Clause 6 Committee had submitted 67 recommendations to state government in 2020. The panel was formed
in 2019.

The development assumes significance because protection of the rights of the Assamese people is a sensitive issue in the state and questions are being raised against the BJP-led regime as to what it is doing after coming to power in the state with the promise of protecting Assamese identity and land from influx.

The AASU is a signatory to the 1985 Assam Accord which signalled the end of the anti-foreigners movement. The opposition has been regularly attacking the government over the delay in implementating the recommendations.

Clause 6 provides for constitutional, political and administrative safeguards to Assamese people, and for implementions of the Sharma Committtee’s recommendations, it is imperative to define who is an Assamese, especially in context political and job reservation and land rights.

The chief minister said: “Today, we engaged with the AASU regarding the implementation of Clause 6 of the 1985 Assam Accord. We have decided to go ahead with the implementation of the subjects that are completely under the state government. But we have made it clear that the recommendations will not be implemented in Barak Valley as well as Sixth Schedule areas without their explicit consent.”

Sarma said 40 of the 67 recommendations dealing with land, culture and language are under the state domain while 12 will require the concurrence of the Centre, and 15, like political and job reservations “which will require Constitutional amendments” are under the Centre’s jurisdiction.

The chief minister said: “There is more or less 100 per cent consensus on the 40 recommendations but the detailed will be worked out on October 25. We are going ahead with a definite timeline.”

When asked about the definition of Assamese people, he said that the state government has already accepted 1951 as cut-off year for implementation of Mission Basundhara, which deals with land issues.

“We are doing it (Mission Basundhara) for the past three years. In spirit, we have accepted the cut-off of 1951 in the context of specific recommendations of the panel. In the last Assembly session, we passed three land bills. We made 1951 as the cut-off year though we did not mention 1951. We said three generations. One generation is 25 years, so it is 1951.”