Sushmita airs grievance for exclusion of Bengalies from the Clause 6 implementation committee, writes to Amit Shah

November 15: A high level committee for taking a call on the implementation of the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord reached Silchar on Thursday morning to hold discussion with various stakeholders residing in Barak Valley. However, the said committee came to Barak Valley in a clandestine manner without any proper publicity, which has given rise to some suspicion. This was alleged by former MP and President of All India Mahila Congress, Sushmita Dev in a letter written by her to the Union Minister of Home, Amit Shah on Thursday.

In her letter, the former parliamentarian also claimed that, “The high level committee formed under Justice (Retd.) B.K. Sharma to look into the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord is a body that does not have a single representation of the largest linguistic minority of Assam, that is, the Bengalies.” She further alleged that,, “The notice inviting suggestions by this committee has used the ‘Indigenous People of Assam on its own volition and without any justification whereas no such word is used in The Assam Accord.”

Again, as regards the use of the term ‘Assamese’, Ms. Dev stated, “The word ‘Assamese’ used in the Assam Accord has not been defined till date. It is appropriate to say here that Bengali people have been resident of Assam right from the inception and must not be deprived in any respect , specially reservation, be it in employment, electoral representation in Assembly and Lok Sabha or any other matter.”

High level committee greeted at Silchar Airport by tribal groups on Thursday

The committee headed by former Gauhati High Court judge, Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma also includes Subhash Das, IAS (Retd), Pallav Bhattacharya, IPS (Retd), Niloy Dutta,-Advocate General of Arunachal Pradesh, Ramesh Borpatragohain-Advocate General of Assam, Wasbir Hussain-Senior Journalist, Prof. Srishtidhar Dutta (Retd), Prof. Jaikanta Sharma, Sumanta Chaliha-author, Samujjal Bhattacharya, Chief Adviser, All Assam Students Union (AASU), President & Secretary of AASU. Joint Secretary (North East) in the Ministry of Home Affairs is the Member Secretary.

The Terms of Reference for the Committee are as under:-

• The Committee will examine the effectiveness of actions taken since 1985 to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord
• The Committee will hold discussions with various stakeholders including social organizations. legal and constitutional experts. eminent persons from the field of art, culture and literature. conservationists. economists. linguists and sociologists.
• The Committee will assess the appropriate level of reservation of seats in Assam Legislative Assembly and local bodies for the Assamese people.
• The Committee will also suggest measures to be taken to protect Assamese and other indigenous languages of Assam (e) The Committee will recommend the appropriate level of reservations in employment under the Government of Assam for the Assamese people. (0 The Committee may suggest any other measures as may be necessary to protect, preserve and promote cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.