Assam govt trying to mislead people about Clause 6 report: Samujjal Bhattacharya

UDALGURI: Former All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) adviser Samujjal Kr Bhattacharya today said the state government was trying to mislead the people of Assam by saying that the recommendations of the high level committee on Clause 6 of Assam Accord cannot be implemented because they were far from “legal realities”.

Interacting with the media at Harisinga in Udalguri district, the student leader who was also part of the Union home ministry-constituted high level committee, said the recommendations were very much legally viable and the government was trying to rake up a controversy only to save its skin after its lack of sincerity to implement the clause that guarantees constitutional safeguard to the people of Assam was exposed.

“It was a panel constituted by the home ministry that prepared the report within stipulated time. But, when it was completed the Union home minister (Amit Shah) did not have the time to receive it. The Centre then authorised the state chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) to receive it on its behalf. He received it along with some of his cabinet colleagues. However, it continued to gather dust at Dispur, and when the content was made public, the Centre admitted that it has not received it till then,” said Bhattacharya.

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“Lately, the inefficient chief minister has asked one of his ministers (Himanta Biswa Sarma) to rake up a row stating that certain clauses were impracticable by misleading the people. The government should be aware that the committee was headed by a retired judge, Justice Biplab Kr Sharma, and it also comprised the advocate general of Arunachal Pradesh (Nilay Dutta). They had examined all legal pros and cons before submitting the report,” he added.

Senior cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had recently said the recommendations cannot be implemented because they comprised certain things which were far from “legal realities”. He said certain recommendations were against the law of the country and needed constitutional amendments.

The committee’s member Sumanta Chaliha, who is now a BJP member, endorsed Sarma saying that the AASU representatives had insisted on certain recommendations which were legally impracticable.

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Bhattacharya had represented the AASU along with president Dipanka Nath and then general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi in the high level panel.

“There are two parts of components in the recommendations, one for the state government such as land rights etc to implement and the other for the Centre. Certain recommendations, of course, need Constitution amendment which is natural as far as implementation of the Assam Accord is concerned. But, those recommendations are clearly marked and the solutions are also recommended in the report. Therefore, there cannot be any confusion over it,” Bhattacharya explained.

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Reiterating that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 will have to be repealed, he also said the Assamese people will never accept the CAA and Assam Accord’s Clause 6 will have to be implemented at all cost to provide constitutional safeguard to the people if the state.

The veteran student leader further accused the state government of sabotaging the National Register of Citizens (NRC) update. “We have moved the Supreme Court seeking its intervention to prepare an illegal migrant-free NRC and we have full faith in the judiciary that the people of Assam will get justice,” he added.