Assam has seen massive protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA
A high-power panel formed by the Home Ministry for implementing Clause 6 of the Assam Accord has given its report to Assam Chief Secretary Sanjay Krishna, after the panel members waited for a few days in Delhi but did not get an appointment from the Home Ministry to receive the report, sources have said.
This clause of the Assam Accord, signed in 1985 after massive protests against illegal immigrants, aims at ensuring special constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people of Assam.
The panel members were disappointed with Home Minister Amit Shah for not receiving them to take the report, sources said, asking not to be named.
They said they were not happy with a "leak" of the key recommendation to the media in Delhi, such as implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) in Assam, before the report was officially given to the Home Ministry.
The ILP is a document that Indian citizens need to have before entering certain areas in the north-east. The ILP seeks to protect indigenous people from being overrun by outsiders in the long term.
The chairman of the panel, Justice BK Sharma, a former judge of the Gauhati High Court, gave the report to the Chief Secretary on Wednesday, sources said.
The committee had sent three letters to Home Ministry, telling them that the report was ready, sources said, adding the Home Ministry did not respond to the requests for submission.
In his last visit to Assam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised that once the report is ready, the government would fast-track the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
The promise of quick implementation of the panel's recommendations was seen as a way for the BJP to gain lost ground after being corner d over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act that speeds up the process of giving citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities from three neighbouring countries.