Home Minister Rajnath Singh assures no dilution of 1985 Assam Accord

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the spirit of the 1985 Assam Accord won’t be allowed to get diluted and the central government will do everything to protect the state’s indigenous people by completely sealing the Indo-Bangla border.

The assurance was given at a tripartite meeting among the Centre, the state government and the All Assam Students’ Union.

The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 in presence of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi between the central government and the AASU to end a six-year-long agitation in the northeastern state demanding detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

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Singh assured the AASU representatives that the spirit of the Assam Accord would not be allowed to get diluted at any cost, an official statement said.

The tripartite meeting, held after a gap of 12 years and attended by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal besides others, discussed threadbare various aspects of the implementation of the accord.

Singh told the meeting that the central and state governments are committed to a flawless National Register of Citizens updating exercise in Assam and to provide constitutional and economic safeguards to the indigenous people.

“All issues raised by AASU will be discussed in detail and implemented in a time-bound manner. We are also mulling the option for second line of defence along the border for strengthening border security and checking infiltration.  Besides, erection of fencing along Indo-Bangla border has already begun,” the statement quoted Singh as saying.

Sonowal said the talks were meaningful and ended on a positive note and the meeting discussed in detail clause-wise time bound implementation of the accord for providing constitutional and economic safeguards to the people of Assam.

He said in the coming days, political and official level engagements will continue for implementation of all clauses of the pact within a stipulated time frame.

AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya, while terming the outcome as positive, thanked the home minister and the chief minister for their initiatives to hold the talks after a long hiatus.

He said all 60 proposals placed by the AASU for clause-wise implementation of the accord were discussed threadbare in the talks.