SILCHAR: Barak Upatyaka Banga Sahitya O Sanskriti Sammelon, a cultural and literary body of the Barak Valley , has expressed fears that the Centre’s initiative to provide constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to the ‘indigenous’ people of Assam may render Bengalis as ‘second class citizens’ in the state.Saurindra Kumar Bhattacharjee, president of the organization, said the process of identifying who are the indigenous people of Assam is not yet over. “In 2015, the state government had taken an initiative to officially identify the indigenous people. Then assembly speaker Pranab Gogoi had invited different organizations to identify and define indigenous people of the state. Representatives of Barak Upatyaka Banga Sahitya O Sanskriti Sammelon also met Gogoi and categorically informed him that Bengalis living in Assam are indigenous people and should be included as indigenous group,” he added. He said the history of the country and Assam supports the claim of the Bengalis.Bhattacharjee said if the Bengalis and people from other smaller groups are left out during the course of providing reservation to the indigenous people, they will be deprived of their constitutional rights, including government jobs and other facilities, despite being sons of the soil. This will in turn disturb peace and harmony in the state, he added.The organization also expressed its anguish over a section of people spitting venom against the Bengalis in the process of passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Bhattacharjee said his organization doesn’t support the bill in its present form. “During our representation before the joint parliamentary committee, we clearly said we can support the bill only if it is amended by removing religious biasness,” he added.

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