GUWAHATI, Sept 17 - Over 50 former district-level leaders of the All Adivasi Students� Association of Assam (AASAA) joined the Congress party at a function held at the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) headquarters Rajiv Bhawan here today. The former AASAA office-bearers were led by former president of the students� body Rafel Kujur. About 5,000 ex-members of the students� body also joined the Congress today at different district headquarters of the party, said an APCC press release here.
The APCC press release said that addressing the function, presided over by APCC president Anjan Dutta, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the former AASAA leaders� joining the Congress reflects the growing trust of the people in the Congress.
The Congress is the lone party dedicated to the poor people of the country, he said and presented a comparison between Assam of 2001 and the Assam of 2015. He described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an agent of the tea estate owners.
Addressing the function, Rafel Kujur thanked the Congress leaders for offering him and his colleagues the opportunity to join the Congress. He criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for bringing to an end the tradition of supply of ration to the tea garden workers at subsidised rates.
Besides, Kujur said the BJP-led Central Government is also shifting from its 2014 pre-Lok Sabha stand on the issues concerning the interest of Assam and its people, like the land swap deal with Bangladesh, the mega dams etc. Going against its earlier stand, the BJP has handed over Assam�s land to Bangladesh and it is also now advocating for the mega dam projects in the NE region, despite the people of Assam vehemently opposing such projects, he said.
Several other ex-AASAA leaders also echoed the views expressed by Kujur. In all, 51 AASAA leaders joined the Congress at the Rajiv Bhawan function in a �representative manner,� while around five thousand of their colleagues joined the party at its respective district headquarters, said the APCC in a press release.
Addressing the function, Anjan Dutta announced that over 200 advocates from different parts of the State, including some from the Gauhati High Court, will join the Congress at a function scheduled for 3 pm tomorrow at the Rajiv Bhawan here.
