As the Assam government has decided to implement 57 of the 67 recommendations of a committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs for the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, one question that remains is what took it so long to decide on implementing the clause, and that too partially.
The decision was made at a meeting of the state cabinet held in Lakhimpur recently. Clause 6, which is the most critical of the clauses of Assam Accord, says, “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.”
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The Assam Accord was signed in August 1985 to mark the end of a six-year agitation to get rid of illegal migrants from the state. Most of the clauses of this accord were implemented, but successive governments steered clear of Clause 6 guaranteeing “constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards” to the Assamese people. One of the reasons was that there has been no consensus on “who is an Assamese” in the multi-ethnic state.
The demand for implementing Clause 6 gained momentum during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act movement in 2019 following which the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government asked the MHA to form the Justice (retired) Biplab Sarma Committee. The panel submitted its 91-page report on February 25, 2020, more than a fortnight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised the implementation of Clause 6 while addressing a rally in Assam.
Now the question remains that with National Registrar of Citizenship not being accepted by the ruling party and the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act, how will the entire recommendations of the panel be implemented.