Washington, DC – A delegation of Assam Association of North America (AANA) met with Anurag Kumar, Minister of Community Affairs at the Embassy of India here. They raised their concerns regarding the current situation in Assam and handed over a memorandum on behalf of AANA. Accepting the memorandum, Kumar promised to forward it to the Prime Minister’s Office in India.
Speaking to IAT, Anjana Bordoloi, one of the delegation members noted the following focus points which were also mentioned in the AANA letter:
1) Implement the Assam Accord of 1985 in the entirety with the cut-off date of March 24, 1971, without further delay, and with an expedited date of completion.
2) In case of any conflict between CAA and the Assam Accord, the Assam Accord must prevail- in order to ensure primacy in the public interest of the indigenous population of Assam.
3) Update the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) released on August 31st, 2019, with corrections necessary to enable full and complete implementation of the Assam Accord.
4) While granting citizenship and settling refugees, take necessary steps to protect and preserve the cultural, social and linguistic identity of the indigenous people of Assam.
They also discussed a few additional points:
a) Protect the rich Assamese cultural heritage/ethnicity and maintain integrity
b) Implement Clause 6 from the Assam Accord 1985 immediately
c) Honor Human Rights and Freedom of Speech
d) Complete the border fence to ensure security and stop infiltration of illegal immigrants
e) Bring back the Japanese investment summit to Assam
The AANA members who attended the meeting were Manoranjan Bordoloi (Mark), eVP; Krishna Hazarika, Treasurer; Anjana Bordoloi, ex-General Secretary and Rhituparna Sarma, Community Member.
Tejinder Singh, Editor, India America Today & White House Correspondent