GUWAHATI: Centre will not restrict entry of persons to Assam, who are non-natives to the state under a law, commonly known as inner line permit (ILP) system, which is currently in force in several northeastern states as a measure to protect the identities of the indigenous people there.

Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “There will be no ILP. How can Assam have the ILP system…it can’t. In fact there is no proposal to government for ILP in Assam.”

Sarma explained that enforcing ILP in the state will only bring negative development. “How will work continue in Guwahati? Assam’s unemployment figure will shoot up by three folds if people cannot come to tea gardens, Oil India Limited, ONGC…if investors and traders cannot come here. Assam is the gateway to northeast and so how can there be ILP here.”

Sarma added that even the MHA panel on providing constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to Assamese identity, which recently submitted its report to chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal , who in turn forwarded it to home minisrer Amit Shah , has not made any straight reference to ILP.

“In my interaction with some members of the panel at a personal level, I was told that there committee has made no direct reference to ILP system for the state,” Sarma added.

The system of travel restrictions a British law, Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) of 1873, was force in several areas of state for 147 years until it was withdrawn by a Presidential order in December 2019. At present the system is in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. Recently the system was extended to Manipur following mass protests against the CAA.

Only Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura are out of the ambit of this regulation, but all anti-CAA forces in Assam, including All Assam Students’ Union, want the ILP system be restored as a measure to protect the indigenous identity.

Many believe that implementing ILP in Assam was one of the recommendations of the panel initially but might have been struck off following Centre’s objection. The details of the report have been kept confidential but Sarma’s revelation that there is no mention of ILP in the report has angered AASU .

The student’s body president Dipanka Nath , who is also a member of the MHA panel said, “WE the members have agreed not to divulge the contents of the report but how someone say anything about the report quoting members of the panel.”

For AASU and other indigenous oragnizations of the state, ILP ought to be part of the safeguards for Assamese people. The MHA panel’s report deals with suggesting measures to provide “Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people” as prescribed by Clause 6 of Assam Accord.

