'Committee Working Flawlessly' Says AASU’s Adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The AGP (Asom Gana Parishad has said that the original residents of the State should be included in a separate list. And the regional party advocated for the listing of the Tea Tribes of the State as original residents.

The Clause 6 of the Assam Accord seeks ‘constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people’.

The high-level committee for the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord has been holding marathon hearing of various parties and organizations for the past three days. The committee is also going to hold such a hearing on Saturday.

The Khilongjia Mancha, Asom (KMA), being led by ULFA leader Anup Chetia as the chief convener, on the other hand, argued that people residing in Assam since the pre-colonial period should be treated as indigenous people of the State, showing respects to the ‘UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’. The Mancha has laid stress on the Yandabo Pact of 1826 as the cut-off year for the identification of indigenous people in Assam.

Talking to media persons, AASU’s adviser-in-chief Samujjal Bhattacharya, a member of the high-level committee, said, “It’s the third consecutive day we’ve been taking the views of various parties and organizations. We’ll also take views of a few noted personalities of the State. The committee will also go to different locations in the State to take views. To ensure the land and other constitutional rights of the indigenous Assamese people in the days to come, the committee is working legally and flawlessly.”

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