Assam: Upamanyu Hazarika Demands Govt to Secure "Identity" & "Existence" of Ethnic Communities

Guwahati, November 11, 2019:

Prabajan Virodhi Manch leader Upamanyu Hazarika on Monday demanded the implementation of legal and constitutional safeguards under clause 6 of the Assam Accord to the committee constituted on it.

Prabajan Virodhi Manch convenor Upamanyu Hazarika addressed that the safeguards have to be in two stages and two different levels.

In a press communique undersigned by Upamanyu Hazarika, it is stated, “In the first stage it is necessary to reserve land, employment, trade licence, higher education opportunities for those citizens who were residents in Assam in 1951 or prior to that and their progeny."

Hazarika believes that this will correct the "imbalance and injustice" to the people of Assam for taking the burden of 23 years of additional migrants. "So, the newly granted citizens post 1951 do not enjoy co-equal rights as that of the existing citizens. This will ensure that all resources in Assam will be reserved only for those who are citizens in 1951 and not for those who became citizens after 1951.", stated the communique.

Pointing out that the exits over 115 ethnic communities in Assam are facing their own threat to identity and existence, Hazarika stated, "In the second stage, each of these communities has to be enabled to secure their identity and existence."

The communique added, “Implementation of the safeguards have to be by either Parliament or the State Assembly, by framing laws and it is, therefore, necessary for those who are in Government, particularly Chief Minister Sonowal. This also includes other leaders who have built their livelihood and identity on the foreigner’s issue.”

“At the first instance, the Chief Minister, MPs, and MLAs should have advanced their proposal regarding constitutional safeguards to the committee and the public could have given their suggestions. This is because regardless of what the public may suggest or the committee may propose if the Government doesn’t want to implement it, it will be an exercise in futility. This is the modus followed by the Government in case of the Citizenship Amendment Bill where they came forward with proposed legislation and then sought the public views,” it further added.

The Manch’s convenor added that it appealed to the committee to first seek the views of the Government as only then their exercise will be meaningful or otherwise it will be conveniently discarded like the Brahma Committee Report.

“Even though the land is the key issue and the key reason for migration and need to be protected first for indigenous people, the Committee has still not been granted the authority and the power to give recommendations on land and trade licences, without which any safeguard is meaningless,” Hazarika added.

He alleged, “The political class is only interested in the reservation of constituencies for indigenous people so as to perpetuate themselves even when the State becomes a Bangladeshi majority.”

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