Amidst fear of Clause 6, Rajdeep Roy allays fear of Bengalis of Assam; says BJP is with them

Oct. 12: Clause 6 of the Assam Accord has become a major cause of concern for the Bengalis of Assam in general and the Bengalis of Brahmaputra Valley in particular. Part of the Assam Accord that came at the culmination of a movement against immigration from Bangladesh, Clause 6 reads: “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.” Herein lies the real issue of concern for the Bengali speaking populace of the state.

Though no consensus has yet been arrived on the definition of the term ‘Assamese’ yet for the Bengalis, it seems to give them an iota of feeling that once the Clause 6 gets implemented, then they shall be denigrated into a community of second grade citizens. The issue has ofcourse got a wider political ramification. This Clause is meant to give the “Assamese” people certain safeguards, which would not be available to migrants between 1951 and 1971. If the recommendation is accepted, those who migrated between 1951 and 1971 would be Indian citizens under the Assam Accord and NRC, but they would not be eligible for safeguards meant for “Assamese people”.

On the flip side, the BJP central leadership on a strong note has assured the Bengalis of Assam who have migrated from East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) due to religious persecution will get embraced in Assam (India). In the language used by Home Minister Amit Shah, the process of National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) was rectifying a historical blunder committed by the country decades ago.

Interestingly, during the Assam agitation, the demand was for detection and deportation of migrants who had illegally entered Assam after 1951. The Assam Accord, however, set the cutoff at March 24, 1971. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) was updated based on this cutoff. Meanwhile, the BJP leadership has tried to mitigate the fear of the Bengalis of Assam.

Recently, Silchar MP & General Secretary of State BJP Dr. Rajdeep Roy is on a tour of the Brahmaputra Valley for party related works. On the sideline of the party meetings, he has been to Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar and Jorhat and held meetings with various sections of the populace including the Bengalis. Taking to his tweeter handle on Monday, Dr. Roy wrote, “Spoke to the Bengali community of #Dibrugarh at length about the #CAA2019 and #clause6 of AA. Thanked them for continued support to #ModiGovt and #SonowalGovt during troubled times !”

Spoke to the Bengali community of #Dibrugarh at length about the #CAA2019 and #clause6 of AA.

Thanked them for continued support to #ModiGovt and #SonowalGovt during troubled times !@RanjeetkrDass @PhanindranathS3 @sarbanandsonwal @JPNadda @blsanthosh @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/As0eJJxVY8

— Dr Rajdeep Roy MP ( MS, MCh) (@drrajdeeproy) October 12, 2020

What seems that the BJP has positioned Bengali Rajdeep Roy to speak with the Bengalis in Assam so that their fear about Cause 6 could be done away with. A discerning eye would reveal that the Silchar MP could successfully penetrate among the Bengali populace in Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and the neighbouring areas. He answered a wide range of questions posed by the Bengalis especially with regards to Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

The Bengalis were also looking upto the BJP for restoration of their self esteem as bonafide citizens of the country. In the tune of PM Narendra Modi, Dr. Rajdeep Roy said, “By bringing in the CAA, the BJP government is not showing any artificial kindness to the Bengalis, this is their long awaited right. Out party has just put in its effort to rewrite the history in its truest perspective.” The Bengali diaspora in Dibrugarh interacted with Dr. Roy in the meeting organised by the All Assam Bengali Chhatra Yuva Federation. In fine, Dr.Roy during the course of his interaction with the Bengali diaspora was single minded involved in garnering support for his party and allay fear from their minds primarily about Clause 6.