Panel formed by home ministry proposes definition of ‘Assamese people’ – to mixed responses in Assam
Who is Assamese? A high-level committee appointed by the government to answer the question has decided “Assamese people” should mean anyone living in the state before 1951 and their descendants. The committee’s recommendations have been greet with a mixed response in the state. Some said they were pragmatic, others said it was “unconstitutional”.
The definition is significant because, should the Centre accept it, people who do not qualify as “Assamese” may not be eligible for certain rights in Assam in future.
Among other things, the committee recommends that land rights in Assam be restricted to those restricted to those defined as “Assamese”. It also suggests that 80%-100% of Assam’s seats in Parliament as well as in the state Assembly and other local bodies should be earmarked for “Assamese people”.
A committee to ensure the safe passage of a Bill?
The committee, set up in July 2019 by the Union home ministry, was tasked with implementing Clause 6 of the Assam Accord of 1985. The accord had been signed by the Centre, the government of Assam and Assamese nationalist groups including the All Assam Students’ Union. It brought to an end a six-year-long anti-immigrant movement, sparked by anxieties over fresh migration into Assam in the aftermath of the Bangladesh War of 1971.
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