Himanta's move on Assam Accord a 'political gimmick' for 2026 assembly polls: Ripun Bora

Guwahati: Terming Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's move on implementation of Assam Accord a "political gimmick", Congress leader Ripun Bora on Thursday alleged that the CM has raised the issue to sail through the 2026 assembly polls.

Addressing a press conference here, Bora, a former MP, said that though the government is claiming to implement several recommendations of the Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sarma Committee on Assam Accord, but the report has not been forwarded to the Centre, which had formed the panel.

"Congress had signed the Assam Accord and we support implementation of it. We appreciate the initiative but it's too little and too late. Amit Shah in parliament had said that all recommendations would be implemented in letter and spirit. What happened to that?" asked Bora.

The Assam government and the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) on Wednesday discussed the implementation of Justice Sarma committee's recommendations on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord to protect the interests of the indigenous population.

"There are 12 recommendations to be implemented by the Centre, while 14 are part of concurrent list and will be jointly executed. However, these have not been sent to the Centre even," Bora claimed.

The Himanta Biswa Sarma-government is only talking about the suggestions under the state purview, he said.

"That is why we doubt his and BJP government's sincerity in implementing the recommendations. We believe it's an election gimmick to sail through the 2026 assembly polls," Bora said.

The Union Home Ministry had constituted a High-Level Committee (HLC), headed by Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sarma, for speedy implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

On February 25 of 2020, the Committee had submitted its report on implementation of Assam Accord to the then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal for handing it over to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

In October 2021, the Assam government had set up an eight-member committee to prepare a framework within three months for implementation of all clauses of the 39-year-old Assam Accord, especially the Clause-6 report prepared by the Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma panel. It is yet to submit the report.

On September 4, the chief minister said that the Assam cabinet had decided to implement 57 of the 67 recommendations given by Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma Committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

The cabinet discussed in detail the various recommendations given by the Committee to protect and safeguard the land, language and culture of the indigenous population of Assam, the CM had said.

The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 after a six-year long violent anti-foreigner movement. It stated, among other clauses, that names of all foreigners coming to Assam on or after March 25, 1971 would be detected, deleted from electoral rolls and steps would be taken to deport them.