Assam Government giving false assurances of protecting the indigenous, only to extract their votes: Upamanyu Hazarika

Senior Advocate and Convenor of Prabajan Virodhi Manch Upamanay Hazaraika on Wednesday told that the Assam Government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have no intention of protecting the indigenous and implementing the Clause 6 committee report. Hazarika said that it is evident from their series of misstatements and  pushing the responsibility onto the central Government, merely to hold out excuses for not implementing the report.

Hazarika added, this even includes implementation of the recommendation of the committee which relate to subjects and issues within the exclusive power and domain of the State Government and State Legislature.

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Hazarika further added, the issue of reservation of land for indigenous people as recommended by the Clause 6 committee is available from pages 57 to 59 of its report where to reserve land and restrict sale and purchase of land amongst the indigenous population requires amendment of two Acts of the Assam Assembly namely Assam Land Revenue and Regulations, 1886 and the Assam Agricultural Land (Regulation of Reclassification and transfer for non-agricultural purpose) Act, 2015. These state enactments/legislation, amendments  have  to be carried out by the state assembly. The present BJP led Government has 87 MLAs, far in excess of the 64 MLAs required to carry out the amendments and reserve land for the indigenous.

There is no role or power of the Central Government as regards land, which in terms of the Constitution of India the power to make laws is vested exclusively in the State Assembly and State Government, added Hazarika.

In fact, as being the Commission appointed by the Honourable Supreme Court in 2015, I had submitted four reports and in my third report of 4th October, 2015, I had recommended/suggested that to save the indigenous from foreign infiltration, necessary legislation should be brought in by the State Assembly/Government whereby the sale, purchase and ownership of land is restricted to only those who were citizens of India in 1951 and residents in Assam and their descendants. This report was accepted by both the then Congress led state Government and BJP led Central Government. This is the same recommendation which the Clause 6 committee has given five years later in its report, Hazarika added.

The present Government and the leaders are past masters at giving false assurances of protecting the indigenous, only to extract their votes, claimed Hazarika.

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