'Bengalis in Assam uncertain over Assamese people tag'

GUWAHATI: Bengali Hindus, many of whom migrated to Assam till 1971, are worried whether they will be included among the "Assamese people", for whom constitutional safeguard is being sought under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
New president of the All Assam Bengali Youth Students' Federation (AABYSF), Mahananda Sarkar Dutta, on Sunday appealed to members of the Clause 6 committee to clear doubts in the minds of Bengalis of Assam about the "Assamese people" criterion. Many Bengali Hindus, who claim to be in Assam prior to 1971, missed the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) published in August last year.
While taking over from Kamal Choudhury, the outgoing president of the leading organisation of Bengalis in the Brahmaputra Valley, Dutta demanded inclusion of all Bengalis as "Assamese people" who settled in the state on or before March 24, 1971.
"Many Bengalis are confused with the Clause 6 committee report. It is being said the migrants, who came to Assam from 1951 to 1971 are being allowed to settle down in the state, but, some people are hesitant to accept them as "Assamese people". The committee should clear their stand on this," said Dutta, who is of the view that any move to exclude Bengali Hindus, who have been in Assam prior to the 1971 cut-off date from the "Assamese people" tag, will be a blunder and hamper their assimilation in the greater Assamese society.
Speculations were doing the rounds recently that the Union home ministry-constituted high-level committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord finalised 1951 as the cut-off year for defining the "Assamese people". Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal will receive the report from panel members on February 25.
After the assumptions on the 1951 cut-off year created "misperception" about the confidential recommendations finalised by the committee, opposition All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and All Assam Minorities Students' Union (Aamsu) raised strong objections on any move to "make 1951 the cut-off year for deciding on the Assamese tag". The members of the Clause 6 committee were, however, upset with a section of the media for reporting its "recommendations".
"Bengali Hindus, who have endorsed the Assamese language and have become a part of the Assamese culture, are anxious. If they are not treated as Assamese people, even after contributing towards the language, literature and culture of this land, where will they go in search of the indigenous tag? Forty lakh Bengali Hindus from the Brahmaputra Valley need to know this," said Dutta.
When the anti-citizenship Act agitation was at its peak, BJP leaders had said the implementation of the Clause 6 will safeguard local tribes and communities.
The All Assam Students' Union, one of the prime signatories of the 1985 Assam Accord, is, however, pointing towards safeguarding the pre-1951 settlers of Assam under Clause 6. The leading students' body, three of whose leaders are members of the Clause 6 committee, is of the view that constitutional safeguard under Clause 6 was meant for locals of Assam who had to "face the burden" of foreigners, who entered the state between 1951 and 1971. "No other state in the country has shared this burden with Assam. That's why the constitutional safeguard should obviously be in force for the Assamese people who were in the state 20 years prior to 1971," reiterated Aasu president Dipanka Kumar Nath, who has been a member of the MHA constituted Clause 6 committee.