The protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Assam may yield a new political party catering to sub-national aspirations.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), which is leading the protests, said it was working on channelling the public anger against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “obsession” with the CAA to form a regional political entity. Other organisations and artistes passionate about protecting the indigenous people from cultural and linguistic threats would be on board, the union’s leaders said.
AGP 2.0?
Some are calling the move AGP 2.0, a reference to how leaders of the AASU and other organisations batting for the rights of the indigenous people had formed the Asom Gana Parishad in 1985 after the end of the six-year Assam Agitation for deporting foreigners. The AASU had spearheaded that agitation.
The AGP, which defeated the Congress in the 1985 Assembly polls to be in power, is now a ruling ally of the BJP. The protesters view the AGP as “traitors” for supporting the BJP on the CAA.
“The situation in Assam today demands a political alternative formed with people who love the State and can protect the land and Assamese culture and language,” AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath said, adding that the union is in consultation with like-minded individuals and organisations on the initiative.
Political alternative
“We are exploring how best to go about a political alternative that will have no truck with the AGP and the BJP as well as the Congress. The AGP betrayed the people by backing the CAA, the BJP wants to rehabilitate the very immigrants it had vowed to eject ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls while the Congress is only interested in vote-bank politics, particularly with the migrant Muslims,” Mr. Nath said.
The BJP played down the AASU’s plan. “Some people are daydreaming about floating a political party and emulating the AGP. We will nevertheless win 100 seats in the next election [2021],” State Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said at a rally on December 29.
The Congress said a new party would add to the challenge of contesting polls in Assam. “We are open to any understanding if such a party becomes a reality. It will need the Congress to be a force to reckon with,” former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Tuesday.
