'A blend of joy & sorrow': Himanta on Sec 6A verdict

Guwahati: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday expressed a “mixed reaction of elation and melancholy” regarding the Supreme Court judgment upholding the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act.

Section 6A of the Citizenship Act deals with the grant of Indian citizenship to immigrants covered by the 1985 Assam Accord, which sets March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of an official function on Sunday, Sarma emphasised that the Assamese people will have to progress through “tribulations”.

“I am uncertain if this judgment is momentous or not. The govt enacted the Assam Accord, so its stance in the court was that the cut-off date should be 1971. However, numerous individuals in Assam aspired for the cut-off date to be 1951,” he remarked when asked for his observations on the judgment. In a 4:1 majority verdict, the SC on Thursday upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, which grants Indian citizenship to immigrants who arrived in Assam between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971.

The five-member Constitution Bench, spearheaded by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, said the Assam Accord was a political resolution to the predicament of illegal migration. Sarma said, “I perceive that this verdict establishes 1971 as the cut-off date, and my reaction is mixed. There is both jubilation and despondency in it. Therefore, I am reluctant to characterize it as a historic judgment; it is simply an amalgamation of both sentiments.” “The Assamese community has to forge ahead with struggles like this,” he added.

The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 following a six-year-long anti-foreigner movement that began in 1979. The pact stipulated, among other clauses, that names of all foreigners arriving in Assam on or after March 25, 1971, would be detected and expunged from electoral rolls with measures taken to deport them.

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