Guwahati, 25 November (HS):

The Winter Session of the Assam Assembly opened on Tuesday with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma placing the Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill, 2025 before the House, signalling the government’s intent to push forward a major social reform.

The bill entered the Assembly records soon after Speaker Biswajit Daimary granted permission for its introduction. Moments before it was tabled, however, MLAs of the Congress, CPI(M) and Raijor Dal staged a walkout. Their exit followed heated exchanges during a discussion on the death of singer Zubeen Garg, leaving the Opposition benches empty during the bill’s presentation. The proposed legislation will be taken up for detailed discussion and passage at a later stage.

On the same day, the Chief Minister placed the long-awaited report of the Justice (retd) T.U. Mehta Commission. This commission had examined the wide-ranging violence surrounding the 1983 Assembly elections. Formed by then government on demand of Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan and leaders of the Assam Movement, the panel investigated incidents from the turbulent years of the anti-influx agitation between 1979 and 1985—an era marred by some of the state’s deadliest episodes, including the Nellie massacre of February 1983, in which more than 2,100 people were killed. No discussion followed after the report’s submission to the House.

In another development, the government circulated printed copies of the Tewary Commission report among MLAs. This report, led by retired IAS officer TP Tewary, had probed the unrest of 1983 and the Nellie massacre. Constituted on July 14, 1983, the commission submitted its final findings to the then Congress government in May 1984 and the then AGP government tabled it in the Assembly in 1987.

Sarma recently pointed out that, despite its tabling decades earlier, the report remained largely inaccessible, with only the Speaker’s office holding a copy. A recent Cabinet directive instructed that both hard copies and digital versions be made available during the Winter Session to guarantee wider circulation. As clarified by the Chief Minister, the House will not take up any discussion on the Tewary report.

Thus, the session’s opening day combined a push for a new legislative reform with the long-delayed circulation of two crucial documents chronicling one of Assam’s most turbulent periods.--------

Hindusthan Samachar / Sriprakash