The Asam Sahitya Sabha has called a central executive meeting on Saturday morning at its ongoing 75th biannual conference at Sualkuchi to discuss and clear its stand on the “burning issues” confronting Assam.

The five-day conference of the apex literary body of Assam formally began on Friday but the footfall was moderate. All the venues at the conference, gates erected for different literary events, trade and book fairs and exhibition stalls were inaugurated too.

The distance between Guwahati in Kamrup (metro) district and Sualkuchi in Kamrup district is about 45km.

Outgoing Sabha president Paramananda Rajbongshi said, “We will meet tomorrow and make our stand clear on the prevailing issues of the state after our central executive meeting.”

Though he did not disclose the issues to be discussed, developments surrounding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by Parliament in December and Clause 6 of the Assam Accord will come up for discussion, sources said.

There has been sustained protest against the Act, which is seen as a threat to the identity and culture of the state.

The proposed amendment to the Sabha’s constitution will also be discussed. There are speculations that Sabha is likely to amend its constitution to create the post of adviser for which Rajbongshi is one of the key contenders.

Rajbongshi also confirmed the move to discuss issues related to the proposed amendment. “However, there will not be any major change to the constitution of the literary body,” he said.

Rajbongshi added that to provide a platform to the aspiring writers of the state, Sabha will organise separate sessions for discussion and interactions on short story, novel, drama, poetry, translation and critical appreciation.

The Sabha was unperturbed by the low turnout. “The gathering was not up to the expectation mainly because of bad weather. The turnout will be more tomorrow,” he said.

Joint secretary of the conference celebration committee, Bhubaneswar Das, echoed Rajbongshi, “The number of visitors is moderate. However, we are not dissuaded since it was just the opening day. We are expecting a larger footfall for the rest of the event.”

As part of the formal inauguration of the conference, Sabha observed Me-Dam-Me-Phi, a festival of the Ahom, on Friday morning in which Purbanchal Tai Ahom Sahitya Sabha president Dayananda Boragohain attended as the chief guest.

The series of inaugurations started with the opening of the Padmanath Gohain Baruah memorial gate constructed at Bongshar, the main entrance path of Sualkuchi town by Krishna Kanta Handique State Open University vice-chancellor Hitesh Deka.

Kumar Bhaskar Varma Sanskrit and Ancient Studies University vice-chancellor Dipak Kumar Sharma inaugu-rated the main venue of the conference, Jyoti Khshetra.

Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner Biswajit Pegu inaugurated the trade fair while Kamrup district superintendent of police Partha Sarathi Mahanta inaugurated the temporary office of the Sabha.

Till Friday evening, more than 154 delegates from different parts of the country registered at Sualkuchi to attend the conference.