The All Assam Students’ Union (Aasu) is going to burn copies of the bill of the proposed India-Bangladesh land swap deal across the state on Monday – the day when it is likely to be tabled in Parliament.
The students’ body, which has been constantly opposing the land-swap deal, too, urged all opposition parties in the house to oppose the bill, reports The Times of India.
“Who has given the right to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chief minister Tarun Gogoi to give our land to Bangladesh without taking the consent of the people of Assam? We urge all opposition parties to oppose the bill for the greater interest of the country,” saidAasu president Shankar Prasad Roy.
Coming down heavily on chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Aasu asked the chief minister to review his decision to give away land to Bangladesh.
“Gogoi, with this deal, is only cheating the Assamese people. Being an Assamese himself, he should have at least opposed the idea but he just nodded to the Centre for his political reasons. It’s a shame. The state is already taking the burden of lakhs of infiltrators from Bangladesh and now the government is giving its own land to them too,” added Roy.
Reminding the historic Assam Agitation, Aasu said hundreds of people who had sacrificed their lives for an influx-free Assam could never imagine such backstabbing by the government.
“Rajiv Gandhi himself signed the Assam Accord in 1985. But it’s been 28 years now but the accord is yet to be implemented. Assam is still not free from illegal infiltrators. Moreover, several fundamentalist groups have taken advantage of the influx and intruded into our territory from the neighbouring countries. Does the government have a slight sense of respect for the people of the state?” he asked.
“We want the government to declare a date within which it’s going to implement the accord and update the NRC in the state,” said Aasu adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjee.
Aasu also announced to stage a 24-hour hunger strike from August 14 to press for implementation of Assam Accord. – UNB
