Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM), a forum against infiltration on Thursday sought reservation of land, government jobs and other facilities for the indigenous people of Assam.
Addressing a press meet at the Greater Dibrugarh Press Club on Thursday, PVM convener Upamanyu Hazarika said that without reservation of land, government jobs and other facilities like trade licenses for locals, mere Assembly seat reservation won’t help in safeguarding the rights of indigenous people of Assam.
He demanded a legislation to ensure that only those, who were citizens of India and residents of Assam in 1951, and their progeny will have rights over land, government employment and trade licenses.
“Mere reservation of Assembly seats without reservation of land, government jobs and other facilities won’t be enough for safeguarding the indigenous people of Assam. Our main objective is to ensure that the indigenous people do not become a minority.
“There should be land reservation, government jobs, trade licenses and so on only to the Indian citizens and residents of Assam as per the cut-off date 1951,” Hazarika said.
“During a poll rally in 2014, Narendra Modi said after May 16, 2014 Bangladeshis should be packed their belongings and ready to go. In 2016 under Sarbananda Sonowal BJP formed the government in Assam by promising to safeguard Jaati (ethnicity), maati (land) and bheti (homeland) and after 29 months government showed anti-indigenous policies,” Hazarika said.
He said they have three objectives behind the campaign and the adoption of the measures to ensure that the indigenous do not become a minority.
“People should be aware of their voting rights because during the election the political parties do all promises but after winning they didn’t fulfill the promises. Now the war of words is going on between the political parties in Assam. But no-one is thinking about the indigenous people of Assam, who have voted the BJP in Assam,” Hazarika said.
He added, “Now they are trying to give citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis through Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, because after the National Register of Citizens (NRC) they have realized that the Bangladesh Muslims have included their name in the NRC list and the Hindus have been left out. The NRC mechanism has totally failed in Assam. Only 1 per cent people have filed objection certificate.”
