CM Himanta Biswa Sarma spells out views on 'Assamese' & 'minorities'

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The State Government made its views on two terms – 'Assamese' and 'minorities' – clear on the floor of the State Assembly today.

Aminul Islam of the AIUDF raised the issue during Question Hour. He asked why the term 'Assamese', as appeared in the Assam Accord, was not defined even after 38 years of the Accord.

Expressing his views, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "We emotionally call all those people as Assamese who were born and bred in Assam, and who accepted the Assamese language, culture etc. They may be Marathis or anyone else. The definition of 'Assamese' in the context of Clause VI of the Assam Accord is problematic as that will be a 'legal' definition ensuring 'constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to the 'Assamese' in the state. I will try to find out the right definition of 'Assamese' through talks with various organizations."

Earlier AGP MLA Ramendra Narayan Kalita said, "Former Speaker Pranab Gogoi did submit a report to the State Government on the definition of 'Assamese' after holding talks with more than 50 organizations. We need to review that report first."

BJP MLA Mrinal Kumar Saikia did question 'who are minorities in Assam' a few days back. Replying to that, the Chief Minister said, "Based on situations, the definition of 'minority' changes from district to district. 'Minority means Muslims' is a wrong concept. The Constitution of India also doesn't have a clear-cut definition of 'minorities'. The Constitution talks about the 'protection of minorities' but stops short of defining it. There can be religious and linguistic minorities. Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians, Buddhists and Jains are the six religious minorities in India. When we talk of 'safeguard to minorities', we mean a community whose scripts, culture, language etc., are under threat."

Citing an example, the Chief Minister said, "Hindus are minorities in the South Salmara district of Assam. Muslims are the majority in the district. The Bengalis are the linguistic majority in the Barak Valley. They, however, are linguistic minorities in Upper Assam. The Central funds for minority development do not mean that the funds are exclusively for religious minority-dominated areas. The funds are for the socio-economic development of the backward blocks and areas. By the term 'linguistic minority, we mean Mising, Tiwa etc., in Assam. A petition filed by Ashwani Dubey in the Supreme Court of India sought directions asking the Centre to lay down guidelines for identification of minority communities at the state level."

The petitioner said that in some states like Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, Hindus are minorities. In its affidavit, the Central Government said that the state governments could also declare a religious or linguistic community as a 'minority community' within the state.

The Chief Minister further said, "We will see if we can be a party to the case provided the apex court permits us. In Assam also, Hindus are either minorities or on the way to being minorities in many districts."

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