Guwahati, 18th September: The opposition Congress party has sharply criticized Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, accusing him of using the Assam Accord’s implementation as a diversion from alleged corruption involving his family. In a joint press conference held on Wednesday, Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia and Assam Congress President Bhupen Kumar Borah claimed that Sarma is attempting to shift public attention from these allegations in the run-up to the 2026 assembly elections.
Bhupen Kumar Borah argued that while the Assam government has recently pushed to implement 57 of the 67 recommendations from the Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma Committee on the Assam Accord, the authority to act on these recommendations lies solely with the central government. He stated, “CM Himanta Biswa Sarma wants to confuse the people of Assam to sail through the 2026 assembly polls. Corruption by his family is a big issue in people’s minds. He has raised the Assam Accord topic just to divert public attention.”
Borah further pointed out that the responsibility for implementing the clauses of the Assam Accord, including Clause 6—which pertains to safeguarding the rights of the Assamese people—rests with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). He questioned why the state government had not clarified how it plans to implement these recommendations and why it has yet to address the core elements of the Assam Accord. Borah added that the Assam government has avoided disclosing details about the 10 key clauses of the Accord, which he referred to as its “soul.”
Debabrata Saikia echoed Borah’s concerns, stating that despite requests for the Assam BJP to present the committee’s report to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, no steps have been taken. He also recalled that the report was initially submitted in 2020 to the then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, yet the central government has remained silent on its implementation.
The Assam Accord, signed in 1985, was a response to the anti-foreigner agitation in the state. One of its central provisions called for identifying and deporting foreigners who entered Assam after March 25, 1971. Despite ongoing discussions about its implementation, significant parts of the Accord, including Clause 6, remain unaddressed, leading to growing frustrations among various political factions.
The Congress leaders expressed their doubts over the state government’s recent assertions to implement the recommendations, accusing CM Sarma of politicizing the issue to distract from more pressing concerns of governance and allegations of corruption.