Guwahati, Oct 17 (PTI) The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), one of the signatories of the Assam Accord of 1985, on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court judgement regarding the pact’s cut-off date and said it re-established the “rationality” of the historic agreement.
Hours after the apex court pronounced its judgement, AASU welcomed the verdict and said it is the victory of the struggling people of Assam who have stood selflessly in favour of the Assam Accord for the past four decades.
In a majority verdict, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act which grants Indian citizenship to immigrants who came to Assam between January 1, 1966 and March 25, 1971.
A five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, said the Assam Accord was a political solution to the problem of illegal migration.
“This verdict re-established the rationality of the Assam movement and the Assam Accord. We pay tribute to the martyrs on this historic occasion. We demand again that every clause of the Assam Accord be fully implemented,” AASU said in a statement.
The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 after a six-year-long violent anti-foreigner movement. The pact stated, among other clauses, that names of all foreigners coming to Assam on or after March 25, 1971, would be detected and deleted from electoral rolls with steps taken to deport them.
“The SC judgement is a victory of AASU, All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad and its partner groups, and all other organisations working for the interest of the state,” it added.
Along with AASU, All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad was the other signatory of the Assam Accord. The third signatory of the historic pact was the central government.
The majority verdict of the Constitutional Bench held that the cut-off date of March 25, 1971, for entry into Assam and granting citizenship is correct.
Section 6A was inserted into the Citizenship Act in 1985 as a special provision to deal with the citizenship of people covered under the Assam Accord. PTI TR TR NN
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