GUWAHATI, Feb 9 - The All Assam Students� Union (AASU) today termed as �without anything new� the Prime Minister�s address at a public rally at Changsari today.
�The announcements concerning schemes and projects are deserved by the people of the Northeast for expediting the development process. The Assam Accord (Clause 7) of the Assam Accord also mandates speedy development of Assam, but the critical issue of ensuring the rights of the people of Assam on their land and resources continues to be overlooked by the Centre,� the AASU said in a statement.
Pointing out that most of the announcements by the Prime Minister were related to old demands by the people and the AASU, the student body said that the Prime Minister used the occasion to benefit the BJP�s prospects in the forthcoming parliamentary polls.
�The Prime Minister was conspicuously silent on the need to evolve a lasting solution to the most serious issue of flood and erosion that has over the decades broken the State�s economy but no meaningful intervention has come from the Centre till date,� it said.
While the Prime Minister sought to give the credit for honouring Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi and music maestro Bhupen Hazarika with the Bharat Ratna, it was clear that the Prime Minister and the BJP had never understood the thinking and ideals of the two stalwarts, the AASU added.
�Had the Lokapriya been alive, he would have opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill tooth and nail. Similarly, Dr Hazarika strove all his life for upholding the identity and ethos of the composite Assamese society. The Centre is trying to divide the society and obliterate the Assamese identity through the communal Bill,� it said.
Modi and the BJP, the AASU added, have shown a lot of disrespect to the two worthy sons of the soil by imposing the Bill on the protesting people of Assam.
The AASU further accused the Prime Minister of adopting a fascist attitude, saying that the Prime Minister�s intolerance of the media, which has been extensively focusing on the mass protests against the dangers to the Assamese society stemming from the Bill, was most unfortunate. �Black flags and black balloons will continue with more intensity until the Bill is rescinded,� it said.
On Modi�s taking credit for the NRC updating exercise, the AASU termed it as laughable and said that right from the beginning both the Centre and the State government had been trying to defeat the exercise and but for the Supreme Court�s strict monitoring, the process would have been stalled.
