Safeguarding of indigenous people has become prey to Assam CM’s personal ambitions, says Upamanyu Hazarika

Guwahati: Anti-influx body, Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM) convenor and Supreme Court lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika on Friday said the safeguard of indigenous Assamese people which could have been possible only by NRC re-verification and legal safeguards reserving land resources etc. have become prey to the personal ambitions of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

“It is a tragedy for the country and particularly the people of Assam that their identity and majority status which could have been safeguarded only by NRC re-verification and legal safeguards reserving land resources etc. for them have become prey to the personal ambitions of Sarma,” Hazarika said referring to the statement of the chief minister made on Bangladeshi influx in the state in an election campaign rally in Jharkhand on Wednesday.

 Addressing an election meeting in support of BJP candidate from Hazaribagh constituency Manish Jaiswal, for Lok Sabha elections, in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand, Wednesday (May 15) aid that infiltrators from Bangladesh make up 1.25 crore of Assam’s population and account for 40 of its 126 MLAs has stirred controversy in his home state.

Sarma appealed to the people of Jharkhand to avoid repeating the Assam situation in Jharkhand.

 In a statement here, Hazarika said: “Sarma made an impassioned election speech in Jharkhand yesterday, about the submergence of the identity of the indigenous inhabitants in Assam under the weight of Bangladeshi influx, there being 1.25 crores Bangladeshis in the state and 40 MLAs.”

“In contrast, Sarma shows no compunction in appealing to the Bangladeshi voters in Assam and demonstrates his bonafides to them by virtually nullifying the NRC, by not undertaking the re-verification that is required and refusing to implement legal and constitutional safeguards over land, resources, employment etc. for the original inhabitants of Assam in spite the Report of a Committee constituted by the Central government recommending a slew of measures for protecting the identity of the indigenous people of Assam for becoming a minority,” Hazarika said.

“Sarma’s behaviour is not surprising. At every point in his political career he has aligned himself with the most powerful political force of the moment, whether the AASU, Congress or BJP at present, the goal is a political office, ideology, values, and service do not find a place in his political lexicon,” the SC lawyer said.

“In his earlier political avatar in the Congress, there was an alignment of the political ideology of the Congress and his own i.e. to secure the Bangladeshi vote in Assam as it brings with it 30 MLAs in the state assembly. Even the BJP, does not want to let go of the support, for this reason, the overt attempt at scuttling NRC and the Assam Accord Clause 6 Committee Report on legal safeguards for indigenous and policies aimed at establishing the Bangladeshis in Assam, land allotment schemes for them, the constitution of development councils for them, greater availability of governmental assistance and development schemes in the migrant nominated area etc,” Hazarika further said.

Hazarika also said after the first phase of polling on April 19, after the upper Assam constituencies (Indigenous-dominated) had voted, he made an all-out pitch for the Muslim migrant vote in the middle and lower Assam constituencies.

“He reconciles the apparent contradiction of securing the migrant Muslim vote and support for himself in Assam and the necessity to establish his “Hindu” credentials by making speeches in English and Hindi projecting an extreme Hindutva rhetoric and in Assam, his speeches in Assamese reflect the actual political inclinations,” Hazarika added.