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AASU hunger strike over Assam Accord

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Aug 14 � Members of the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) launched a 27-hour hunger strike from 6 am today in protest against the failure of the Central and State Governments to implement the Assam Accord even after 25 years of signing of the same. The AASU also demanded that all the political parties, which were in power in Delhi and Dispur in the last 25 years should seek apology from the people of Assam on Independence Day for their failure to take positive steps for implementation of the Accord.

Talking to The Assam Tribune at the venue of the hunger strike on the banks of Dighalipukhuri, AASU adviser

Samujjal Bhattacharya said that the Central and State Governments betrayed the people of Assam by not implementing the major clauses of the Accord. �The political leaders in Delhi and in the State always make appeals to the misguided youths to come to the mainstream in their Independence Day speeches. But we want to ask them where the mainstream is. We are in the mainstream as we fought for the detection and deportation of foreigners, but the political leaders sided with Bangladeshi nationals by not implementing the Accord. We want to appeal to the political leaders to come back to the mainstream and work in the interest of national security and for protecting the interests of the indigenous people.� He also said that the failure of the State and Central Governments to implement the Accord encouraged illegal migration and growth of fundamentalist forces.

AASU president Sankar Prasad Roy said that though the State got an IIT, Central University, Numaligarh Refinery, a bridge over the river Brahmaputra etc., following the signing of the Accord, the core issues are yet to be dealt with as the process of detection and deportation of foreigners remains a farce and the international border is yet to be sealed. The Governments at Delhi and Dispur must draw up a specific time-frame for implementation of all the clauses of the Accord, he demanded.

AASU general secretary Tapan Kumar Gogoi said that over the years, the political parties were silent on the issue of infiltration of foreigners as they wanted to create a vote bank of illegal migrants. He said that the problem of infiltration has become much more dangerous than ever before as the demographic pattern of the State has changed because of the silent invasion.

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