AJP questions Sonowal's silence on HLC report on Clause 6

It is headed byJustice Retd B K Sarma and has two Advocate Generals -Ramesh Borpatrogohain of Assam and Nilay Dutta of ArunachalPradesh as ist members, Bhuyan said in a statement here.The High Level Committee had submitted its report toSonowal for handing it over to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.Does the Assam government mean that all these legalluminaries do not know law and has submitted a report withouttaking into consideration the legal aspects

The recently floated politicaloutfit Assam Jatiya Parishad Friday questioned Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal's silence on the report of the High levelCommittee (HLC) on Clause 6 of Assam Accord and asserted thatthe state government cannot wash its hands off it.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has adopted an''escapist attitude'' by being silent on the issue, while one ofhis cabinet ministers announced that it cannot be implementedas it does not have ''legal reality'', AJP General SecretaryJagadish Bhuyan said.

The state government is trying to give an impressionthat the recommendations of the report do not fall under itspurview and is trying to wash its hand off it. But most of therecommendations will have to be implemented by it, he said.

State finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said onWednesday that the government cannot implement the Committee'srecommendations as those were far from ''legal reality''.

The 14-member Committee was set up by the Centre andsubmitted its report in February 2020. It is headed byJustice (Retd) B K Sarma and has two Advocate Generals -Ramesh Borpatrogohain of Assam and Nilay Dutta of ArunachalPradesh as ist members, Bhuyan said in a statement here.

The High Level Committee had submitted its report toSonowal for handing it over to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

''Does the Assam government mean that all these legalluminaries do not know law and has submitted a report withouttaking into consideration the legal aspects? This is an insultto them and the chief minister must apologise to them,'' Bhuyansaid.

The state government is trying to give an impressionthat the recommendations of the report do not fall under itspurview and is trying to wash its hand off it. But most of therecommendations will have to be implemented by it, he said.

Besides, the recommendations regarding the safeguardof linguistic and cultural identities of the indigeneousAssamese will have to be be ensured by the state government,he added.

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU), under whoseinitiative the AJP was formed, said there will be nocompromise on Clause 6 of Assam Accord. It alleged thatSonowal has positioned himself at a safe distance andappointed another person to insult the report.

The Clause 6 of the Assam Accord seeks to provideconstitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards tothe indigenous people of the state to protect, preserve andpromote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritageof the Assamese people.

AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath and generalsecretary Sankarjyoti Barua strongly criticised Sonowal forhis alleged lack of knowledge, ''inefficiency and escapistmentality''.

''We will never forgive Sonowal for this stand,'' theysaid.

The opposition Congress also sought to know why thestate government was yet to make an official statement on thestatus of the Committee's report and why Sonowal and Shah aresilent on it.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)