GUWAHATI: The Assam government on Thursday launched a special scheme for granting arms licences to “original inhabitants and Indian indigenous citizens” living in “sensitive” areas of the state.
After launching the initiative, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that arms licences, not arms, would be given to responsible citizens so they could aid the government in maintaining peace. He described it as a “religious and politically neutral” scheme.
“Assam has many sensitive areas where indigenous people often live under insecurity. It takes a lot of time to respond to any law and order or other emergency situations in such remote places. If we can use the locals as first responders, we can tackle the situations,” Sarma said.
Stating that using citizens as first responders is an established norm under the law, he said while the government would issue the arms licences, it would be the responsibility of the citizens to purchase arms.
“There is no sensationalism. It is a routine exercise of government power,” he said.
Sarma added that an arms licence would be issued only after it was verified that the applicant was mentally stable and did not have any criminal antecedents.
“We will first check why a man needs an arm – if he lives on the Bangladesh or interstate border, or in a vulnerable area where people from his community have a small population and he is not capable of defending himself without an arm before the arrival of the police in the event of communal or ethnic violence. The person will have to prove why he is vulnerable,” the chief minister said.
According to him, when people during a conflict know that an individual has an arm, it acts as a deterrent. “He will not have to use it. That is why there are provisions in the Constitution to give arms licences to citizens under the Indian Arms Act,” Sarma said.
He stated that all District Commissioners (DCs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) would utilise statutory power with a sense of responsibility, neutrality and complete objectivity. “If it is misused, it will be their responsibility and not the responsibility of the CM or the DGP or the Chief Secretary,” he said.
Sarma also mentioned that applicants for an arms licence would be given training in their respective districts by “accredited people” before the licences are issued. He added that the DCs would follow necessary protocols, after which the government would move forward on granting arms licences.
“There is nothing new. We are doing what we could not do due to the problem of militancy earlier. The crime situation has improved at a fast pace in the last three years,” Sarma said.
He recalled that there was a time when most villages in Assam had arms, which were later seized by the government. He alleged that the Congress was criticising his government, despite having issued most of the arms licences when it was in power.
“In fact, we are taking more precautions. We will give it only in sensitive areas. It means we are more conservative than previous governments. We will give it to those whose citizenship is beyond doubt. My request is don’t sensationalise it. This is an established governance pattern,” Sarma said.
The chief minister expressed concern that Assam’s demography was changing rapidly, reducing indigenous people, once in the majority, to a minority in some areas. “Demography changes when people sell off their lands. When others sell off their lands but some do not, they become vulnerable,” he added.