GUWAHATI, May 6 � The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has called a 10-hour Assam bandh tomorrow in protest against the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh which was passed by the Rajya Sabha today. The LBA provides for exchange of territories in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya with Bangladesh.
Addressing mediapersons here, party general secretaries Durga Das Bodo and Dr Kamalakanta Kalita said all essential services and examinations have been exempted from the 6 am-4 pm bandh.
�We will continue with our protest against the land swap deal and finalise a series of agitational programmes. Today�s development has revealed the true colours of the BJP, which has failed to respect the sentiments of the people of Assam. The BJP government has compromised with the Congress and the Bangladeshis,� said Bodo.
Dr Kalita described the BJP as a traitor, adding that there was no difference between it and the Congress.
The functionaries alleged that the BJP had been changing its stand on the issue several times.
It needs to be mentioned that, while addressing a rally here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the deal would end illegal migration from Bangladesh into India and ensure a permanent solution to the influx problem of Assam. The government had again proposed to exclude Assam from the purview of the land swap deal, but again changed its stand and included Assam in the deal following criticism from Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
�The Congress has always betrayed the people of Assam, and now the Narendra Modi government too is following in the footsteps of the Congress,� said the AGP.
The party today burnt effigies of Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Gogoi and the copies of the land swap deal across the State.
Meanwhile, the BJP�s Guwahati City District Committee today took out a procession in the city slamming the Congress and Tarun Gogoi. It said the BJP, which always respected the aspirations and sentiments of the people of Assam, was keen to revise the land swap deal and exclude Assam, but Tarun Gogoi opposed it. �The Congress did not support the stand of the BJP. It has never respected the sentiments of the people,� it alleged.
