Gorkhas of Assam seek recognition as indigenous group, release white paper

The Assam unit of Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) has released a white paper stressing that Gorkhas are an indigenous group of the state and should be included as such in the high-level committee (HLC) report on Clause 6 of Assam Accord, which had left the community out. 

The compendium of historical facts and figures showing the presence of the community in Assam since many centuries was released on Saturday in Guwahati.

“The white paper includes documents and facts with commentaries towards justification of Gorkhas as an indigenous group of Assam which the Justice Biplab Kumar Sharma-led HLC on Assam Accord Clause 6 undermined and left out from the report without any mention,” said BGP’s Assam spokesperson Nanda Kirati Dewan.

The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 after a 6-year agitation in the state against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The Clause 6 of the accord sought to provide constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the indigenous Assamese people. 

The HLC, formed by the Union home ministry, to define who constitute Assamese people and suggest measures for safeguarding their rights, submitted its report in February this year to Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.  

The report of the committee, which was made public by All Assam Students Union (AASU) in August, stated that all citizens of India, who were a resident of Assam on January 1, 1951, and their descendants, would be considered as Assamese people for the purpose of Clause 6.

According to BGP, there was no mention of the Gorkha community in the HLC report. In September, BGP submitted a dissent note to the Assam chief secretary seeking safeguards for the community under provisions of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord. 

 

Copies of the white paper would be sent to the Union home minister, chief minister of Assam and other departments to seek the inclusion of Gorkhas as an indigenous community of Assam in the HLC report. 

 

https://www.hindustantimes.com