MAMATA MISHRA
GUWAHATI, March 13: The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) would mobilise student activists for creating awareness among the masses about the core issues concerning Assam ahead of the Assembly election, so that relevant topics like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and Clause 6 implementation are not lost amid the din of electioneering.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath said the student body is going to hold its central executive meet next week and also organise the delegates’ meet simultaneously. The student union plans to start the awareness campaign right after the meet.
“The CAA and Clause 6 continue to be the core issue for the people of Assam, irrespective of the take of the political parties over these matters. The controversial legislation has threatened the existence of the people of Assam. Five persons were killed in police firing while protesting the Act and innumerable atrocities were meted out against the protestors, including students, during the movement,” Nath said.
“Also, the CAA was the main factor behind the formation of two new political parties. Its importance cannot be undermined even if different political parties are trying to build new narratives around it,” he said.
The central executive meeting of the AASU’s new elected body has not been held since the election of its new executive committee in November last year during the AASU’s 17th general conference in Duliajan.
On whether the anti-CAA votes would lose their worth after being largely divided between the grand alliance and the regional front, the AASU leader said people would have to alienate the CAA from religion in the context of Assam to make an informed decision.
“If implemented, the CAA would be harmful for all genuine citizens of Assam, whether Hindu or Muslim. Our fight on the streets as well as in the court is not about giving citizenship to the people of any particular religion, or discriminating against any other religion. Our political parties may be divided over the issue on religious ground, but for people, it still remains the issue of their existence,” added Nath.
The Congress-led grand alliance has made the CAA a major poll plank this election. The Congress has also promised that it won’t implement the Act if voted to power. The ruling BJP, on the other hand, is playing safe over the issue, with most of its top leaders either avoiding the subject or downplaying it.
Exuding confidence that the rational citizens, who opposed the CAA heart and soul, won’t fall for any political propaganda surrounding the contentious legislation, the AASU president said Assam’s anti-CAA protest was different from the rest of India and it should not be polarized on religious grounds.
He asserted that earlier too, the student body had taken initiatives to make people aware about the burning problems of Assam during the time of elections.
