Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha objects to implementation of Clause 6 of Assam Accord
Our Correspondent
Kokrajhar: Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM) on Wednesday reiterated that the working panel of Clause 6 of Assam Accord was directionless and lacked conception and clarity.
The president of the BJSM, Janaklal Basumatary said that first of all the panel had no idea who were Assamese people and who were the indigenous communities of Assam. “They are also not clear who are immigrants. It seems that they are detecting Bangladeshi immigrants by updating the NRC with 1971 as base year - the year in which Bangladesh was created. But what about Pakistani immigrants? Have you not accepted them as Assamese? What about migrants from Nepal, migrants from other States of India? Have you not included them as Assamese? Do you want constitutional safeguard for them also?” he said.
He also said that the Assam Accord itself was invalid, unconstitutional and so Clause 6 was meaningless. “Constitution has already provided rights of possession of land and political representation, right to preserve, promote, develop language, culture and heritage for every citizen and community. All Assamese people enjoy these rights guaranteed by the Constitution. There is no question of constitutional safeguard for Assamese people as all rights are guaranteed for them also,” he said, adding that there was no scope to ask special protection for them as they all belonged to the majority and socially upper class.
Basumatary said that land reservation and political reservation were two special reservations. These reservations were provided only to Scheduled Tribe people of Assam as they needed constitutional protection for their very survival against the onslaught of majority and upper-class people. “If they say that they want protection from the onslaught of immigrants, it is simple - take away the land rights and political rights from the immigrants. It is meaningless to secure reservation of land and political reservation for them as all land and political power belongs to them,” Basumatary said.
He added that the correct solution was to update the NRC with base year as 1951 and to take away the land and political rights from all immigrants from foreign countries or other States of India as they were not indigenous people of Assam. He also said that the people from States like Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh were migrating to Assam not only for contractual work but to occupy the reserve forest land and tribal reserve land. “How can you justify giving land and political reservation to them at the cost of reservation for the tribal people of Assam,” he said.
Basumatary said, “Implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord will inflict immense harm to the tribal people of Assam and it will not do any good to the majority and upper class people of Assam. Immigrants of both foreign and other States of India will remain important political power.”
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