Assam Accord
- The Assam government recently informed the Assembly that as of January 31, more than 1.44 lakh illegal aliens had been discovered in the state, in accordance with the 1985 Assam Accord.
- All told, 30,000 of them had been returned to their own nation.
- The terms “adi basinda,” “khilonjia,” and “Axomiya janagan,” which refer to Assamese people, have not yet been defined but are included in the Accord, claims the administration.
The Assam Accord:
- The Assam Accord, which was signed in 1985 by the Center and the Assam government, included both the All Assam Student Union (AASU) and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad, which had led the Assam Movement against immigration from Bangladesh from 1979 to 1985.
- To implement the various stipulations of the Assam Accord, the “Implementation of Assam Accord Department” was created in 1986.
- On March 24, 1971, the Accord was declared to be over. On that date, anyone entering Assam before midnight would be regarded as an Indian citizen; anyone arriving after midnight would be regarded as a foreigner.
- Using the same cut-off, the National Register of Citizens was updated (NRC).
- In order to protect, maintain, and strengthen the Assamese people’s cultural, social, and linguistic identity and history, the Assam Accord’s Clause 6 promises “constitutional, legislative, and administrative safeguards.” However, the statement does not provide a detailed definition of the “Assamese people.”
- Since many people thought the 1971 cutoff was insufficient, Clause 6 is essential.
- The Assam Movement designated 1951 to be the exclusion year.
- Many said that because the cut-off date for the rest of India is 1948, the Assam Accord will confer citizenship to a group of migrants who would otherwise be categorised as foreigners.
- Clause 6 was therefore seen as a protection clause that would preserve certain rights for Assamese citizens while excluding particular groups from those who were granted citizenship based on the 1971 cutoff date.
Why is the definition so challenging to comprehend?
- Because Assam’s population has changed as a result of decades of migration.
- During the colonial era, a large number of immigrants had already settled in this area. The issue was whether the term “Assamese” might exclude someone who, for instance, might have lived in Assam for 100 years with their family, notwithstanding the possibility that they might not be native speakers of an indigenous language like Assamese, Bodo, or Karbi.
- There is no agreed-upon definition for the contested names “Axomiya” and “Assamese.” Axomiya individuals are thought to be those whose ancestors resided in Assam prior to Assam’s incorporation into British India in 1826.
- Others think that “Axomiya” refers to anyone who permanently resided in Assam prior to 1951, the year the first NRC was established.
- Some people believe that everyone who speaks Assamese (or any other native language) is an Axomiya.
- People from the Barak Valley, where Bengali is a first language, want to include Bengali-speaking Assamese in the category of “Assamese,” which encompasses a wider range of people.
The following terms are still without definitions:
- Khilonjia: In common speech, “khilonjia” refers to all indigenous communities. The question is who would be considered an indigenous person. Although one school of thought holds that the term should cover various communities whose history in Assam dates back before the annexation with British India, others disagree with this reasoning due to the people who would be excluded.
- Basinda Adi The tribes that have lived in Assam for ages are considered to be its “original inhabitants.” Even this term has not been agreed upon, however some Assamese people want this to encompass indigenous groups that the British colonial authorities settle.
