Govt will ensure statutory safeguards to indigenous people: Sonowal

STAFF REPORTER



Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal interacting with the media in Guwahati on Wednesday.  UB Photos Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal interacting with the media in Guwahati on Wednesday.  UB Photos I am a product of the Assamese society and my regional consciousness is still very much there. Just because somebody has joined a national party it does not mean that he or she has done away with my regional consciousness, Sonowal said making an apparent reference to the anti-CAA protests in the State. But today, we have been branded as someone who had compromised with the interests of the society. What have we done to deserve this? Where will I go if you the people boycott me? It is you who made me what I am today, Sonowal said interacting with media persons on the first day of the New Year here today. When the AASU conferred the title Jatiya Nayak on me, I had said there and then that it is the martyrs who deserve the title. My views came from the core of the heart. These days, I have seen some people are employing different connotations against my name and are even mocking me. In a vibrant democracy, the people have the right to speech. But, I too have many things to tell which I will express in appropriate time, a visibly emotional looking Sonowal said. He reiterated that the government has in place the action plan to safeguard the interests of the Assamese society. Today on the first day of the New Year, let me assure the people of the State that no force in the world can affect our existence and it is this government that would ensure constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people, he said. Further, in regard to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the Chief Minister said the people of the State need not fear about anything and that the State government has already sent the rules to be framed vis-a-vis the newly-amended legislation. Once the rules are framed, everything will be crystal clear. The figures that are doing the rounds have no basis. We would not allow any fresh influx, he claimed. When we took over the reigns, we aspired for a state free from corruption, foreigners, pollution and terrorism. The government has been constantly working on this agenda, Sonowal said, stating that the people living in the tea gardens and the rural areas have been misled in the name of the anti-CAA protests. He also blamed the Congress and the Left parties for such propaganda. Sonowal also gave a detailed account of the State governments achievements ever since he has taken over as the Chief Minister. When we took over, we saw that the sons of the soil were still deprived of land pattas. Even a place like Majuli was not surveyed. In the last three years, we have given pattas to 50,000 indigenous people and this year, the number of beneficiaries will touch one lakh, he said. It is with an aim to ensure land rights of the indigenous people that the government has come up with the new land policy, he added. Sonowal asserted that it was the BJP-led government in the State that gave priority to the Assam Accord department unlike the previous governments. With support from the Centre, we are also laying special emphasis on Clause 7 of the Assam Accord which aims to trigger economic prosperity in the State, he said. Journalists taking part in the interaction with the Chief Minister, including senior journalist and editor of Assamese fortnightly Prantik Pradip Baruah urged the government to withdraw the Act. The latest amendment in the Citizenship Act was unwarranted. It is a blot on the sovereign nature of our Constitution and I felt there was no need for such an amendment, Baruah said, adding that the history and culture of Assam was vastly different from that of the rest of India.