Tezpur: All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), the student movement in the 80s that gave birth to AGP, is unhappy with the BJP but is more worried about the emergence of AIUDF under Badruddin Ajmal, the face of Bengali Muslims, who has been gaining ground election after election.
The AASU that was in the vanguard of a bloody movement that ended with the Assam Accord in 1985 is miffed with the government at the Centre saying nothing has changed on the ground on the promised deportation of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
It is equally cut up with the role of the Congress and is keen that AIUDF should not win in the coming Assembly elections. “The NDA government at the Centre has taken all anti-Assam policies in the last 22 months. BJP’s stand is not satisfactory. Assam did not get any positive support in the last two years. In fact, anti-Assam policies are being taken by the Centre,” AASU General Secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi told PTI in an interview.
The AASU, which is directly not into politics but has some clout with the young voters and student population, has cut its umbilical cord with the AGP, which itself has lost a lot of sheen of late.
He acknowledged that AASU had officially asked for a change in the leadership in Delhi from the UPA regime during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but did not ask people to vote for a particular party. “However, there was no change on the ground. We wanted a change in many decisions related to Assam but nothing happened. BJP had promised change in policies on issues like hand-over of Assam’s land to Bangladesh, detection and deportation of all infiltrators and stopping of big dam construction,” Gogoi said.
On the other hand, the Centre has not fulfilled any promise made by BJP before the Lok Sabha polls and has made U-turns on every issue, he complained.
When asked if AASU will advise people to vote for any particular party or candidate, Gogoi said, “We are not asking people to vote for any one party. Our appeal to people is that they should vote keeping in mind the Bangladeshi problem. Infiltrators should not gain from this poll.”
Expressing apprehension over the rise of AIUDF, which is said to have a base among the Bengali-speaking Muslims, the AASU chief asked all indigenous people in Assam to vote for preventing Ajmal from becoming a “political decision-maker”.
He made a strong appeal to all the people to come out and vote in the elections on April 4 and 11. “As the National Register of Citizens is not complete, illegal migrants will also get a chance to vote in this election and their turnout is usually 100 per cent. So, we appeal to indigenous people also to come out and vote 100 per cent,” Gogoi said.
“Our strong stand is Ajmal should not win. He should not be a deciding factor and become a political decision-maker. Bangladeshi infiltrators should not be in a position to decide the future of Assam,” he said.
The AIUDF has been gaining strength with every election. In its maiden foray in the 2006 Assembly polls, the party won 10 seats with Ajmal himself emerging victorious in two seats. In the last Assembly elections in 2011, it won 18 seats, becoming the main opposition.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party won three seats, including Ajmal and his brother. Gogoi also said the ruling Congress party’s role in detection and deportation of illegal immigrants is not satisfactory and alleged that the current state government is sympathetic to them.
AASU has appealed to all political parties to make clear their stand on various issues, including implementation of Assam Accord, detection and deportation of illegal immigrants, sealing of international border, Lower Subansiri and similar big dam projects, ST status to six tribes and protection of rhinos.
“We have presented 10 points to all political parties. We want assurance from them on the same,” he said.
