Keep basis of Assam Accord intact: Saikia

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, April 30: The Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, has appealed to Dispur and New Delhi to keep the very basis of the Assam Accord intact.

In a statement issued to the press today, Saikia said: “The Assam Accord that was signed in 1985 after a six-year-long agitation is facing a challenge from the Constitutiol Bench of the court after long 31 years. If the bench gives its nod for changing the very basis of the Accord – March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for the detection and deportation of foreigners from Assam – to 1951 Assam will burn again. This is because based on the Assam Accord the foreigners, who had entered the State before March 24, 1971, were given Indian citizenship. And now if the cut-off year is changed to 1951, these people will be stateless, leading to more agitations in the State.”

Saikia said: “The BJP government at the Centre led by Prime Minister rendra Modi and the party’s government at Dispur have been out to make the Assam Accord redundant by changing its cut-off date. This is not all. The government is trying its best to accord Indian citizenship to Bangladeshi Hindus. If that is done, the indigenous people of the State will be nowhere on their own land, besides making the Assam Accord redundant. This is being done when a number of top leaders of the Assam Agitation are holding important posts in the State Government. In such a situation, Dispur should do something tangible not to let the Assam Accord to be redundant.”