Guwahati, Jan 8 (IANS): A day after the All Assam Students Union (AASU) declined to be a part of a committee set up by the Central government to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday appealed the powerful student body to play an active role in the panel.

"The high-level committee constituted by the Central Government for safeguarding the cultural and linguistic identity of indigenous people of Assam through Clause 6 of Assam Accord is a golden opportunity for the state and AASU must play an active role in the committee," Sonowal told a gathering in Tinsukia.

"I am a son of the soil and I will not allow the Assamese people to get marginalized in their own place. Let us all join hands to find an acceptable, rational and practical solution to this important issue," Sonowal said.

The Central government on Saturday set up the committee, to be headed by former Union Tourism Secretary M.P. Bezbaruah, to ensure implementation of Clause 6 of the 1985 Assam Accord, which seeks to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

The Central government had nominated a member of AASU in the committee. The AASU declined to be part of the committee until the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 is scrapped.