Trinamool leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy.

(This story originally appeared in on Aug 6, 2018)

KOLKATA : The Assam Accord of 1985, a tripartite agreement between then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi , All Assam Student’s Union (AASU) and Assam government is “unprecedented”, said Trinamool leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy.

The Rajya Sabha MP had led Trinamool’s parliamentary committee team to Silchar to take stock of the situation following the publication of NRC draft list .

According to Roy, who was a senior Congress leader during the 80s, other similar accords like Punjab Accord and Mizoram Accord signed by Raiiv Gandhi in 1985 and 1986 respectively are also “equally absurd”.

Roy, who had joined Mamata Banerjee to form Trinamool Congress, was the general secretary of Congress state committee. “All these three accords signed by Rajiv Gandhi were absurd. He signed Assam Accord with an agitating students’ organisation. This is perhaps the only instance in which a PM signed an accord antiforeigner movement. He signed the Mizoram Accord with Laldenga, who was then not living in India. He entered into the Punjab accord with Akali leader Harchand Singh Longowal, who was also involved in the separatist movement. All these accords were equally absurd and unprecedented,” Roy told ET.

He said all these accords are “time-barred”. “These are 33-year-old accords. What is the motive behind implementing these three-decade old accords now? If Modi government is so interested in executing decade old treaties and accords, then would the government also implement the Liaquat-Nehru pact signed in 1950?. This is nothing but an evil design by the Modi government to polarise the religious and linguistics minorities.”

He said the NRC process should be conducted under the monitoring of United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Referring to the video clips of Mamata demanding NRC in Parliament in 2005 as “tailored”.

Roy said, “BJP is circulating a distorted video. We too have some videos to show. Mamata Banerjee was the only parliamentarian to protest against NRC.”

According to Roy, Assam did not allow Trinamool’s seven-member team to step out of Silchar airport even to buy food .

Seven FIRs have been registered-—four by the Assam government against Mamata and her party members and three by Trinamool MPs against Assam chief minister Sarbanada Sonowal.

