"Assam Accord should be implemented fully," demands Assam Congress

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Kumar Borah told ANI that, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was the signatory of the Assam Accord, which means Congress has also supported the Assam Accord and Congress has always been in favour of the implementation of the Assam Accord.

"We want that the Assam Accord should be implemented fully. The Clause 6 is the soul of Assam Accord. We also demand to introduce Inner Line Permit (ILP) in Assam, to provide ST status to six communities, to form Upper House, reservation in Assam assembly, to seal the Indo-Bangladesh border," Bhupen Kumar Borah said.

He further said that, the Union Home Ministry in July 2019 formed a committee under Chairmanship of Justice (Retd) Biplab Sarma to prepare a report for implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

"The committee had sought time from the Home Ministry to submit its report in February 2020, but the Home Ministry refused to give time and the Committee finally submitted its report to former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. In recent Lakhimpur cabinet meeting, the Assam government decided to implement 57 out of 67 recommendations of the Jutice (Retd) Biplab Sarma committee. Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma also announced this. But our question is that, what will be for other 10 key recommendations? We think all 67 recommendations are important and remaining 10 recommendations are also very important. We demand the Assam Chief Minister to implement all recommendations given by the Justice (Retd) Biplab Sarma committee," Bhupen Kumar Borah said.

Hitting out at the Assam Chief Minister, the president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee said that, the CM and the BJP government don't want to implement the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

"To cover up the other corruption issues, the Assam Chief Minister is now talking about implementation of the recommendations of the Justice (Retd) Biplab Sarma Committee. Ahead of 2026 assembly polls in the state, they are trying to take up this as an issue. But Congress will continue its fight for implementation of the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord," Bhupen Kumar Borah said. (ANI)