On Wednesday, Congress MLAs including the leader of opposition Debabrata Saikia stage walkout after heated debate between ruling and opposition parties over the implementation of the Assam Accord.
The question on the implementation of Assam Accord was bought by Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia which was later counter-questioned by Minister for the Implementation of the Assam Accord Atul Bora during the thirteenth day of Assam Assembly session.
Bora asked, “What was the Congress government doing in the past? Congress should ask this question at Rajiv Bhawan in Delhi.”
The opposition leaders opposed Bora’s remarks on the Assam Accord and decided to stage a walkout.
Meanwhile, addressing the media outside the Assembly, CLP leader Debabrata Saikia said, “We are not satisfied with the reply by the government on implementation of the clauses 5 and 6 of the Assam Accord. Firstly, we enquired whether the cut-off date for citizenship as per the Assam Accord’s clause 5 was modified. As per clause 5 of the accord, all those who entered the territory of Assam after March 25, 1971 are illegal migrants. The government said it accepted clause 5. However, when I enquired whether the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 will bring any change or hinder clause 5 of the Assam Accord or not. The reply from the government didn’t come out satisfactory, they claimed the contentious act was passed by the central government and thus, state government has no role to play in this. We all know that this act will hamper the clause 5 and 6 of the Assam Accord, as the law was passed to offer Indian citizenship to a section of persecuted religious minorities who had migrated from neighbouring countries.”
Not only this, the Implementation of Assam Accord department under state government has also failed to establish on how to work for the preservation, promotion and upliftment of the culture of the people of Assam as per clause 6 of the Accord, alleged the CLP leader.
“It’s been almost 35 years of the Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement. But till date, the government is not paying any heed to provide constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to the Assamese people. This is unfavorable in terms of our state’s development, hence we decided to stage a walkout,” added Saikia.
