GUWAHATI: Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), a leading youths organisation of Assam, has warned the ruling party in the state “not to play politics in the name of religion and language” for political gain ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The student’s organisation categorically said that the spokespersons for the ruling party should refrain from making statements in regard to heritage, religion and language for polarisation of votes.
Addressing the media here on Monday, AJYCP general secretary, Palash Changmai said that it has observed spokespersons from the Assam government making statements on the state’s heritage, including satras and temples in an apparent bid to divide Hindu and Muslim votes ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
“There have been statements made on freeing satra land from encroachments, which we welcome. But to make statements on the issue to target a particular community is not right. Spokespersons from the ruling party have time and again said that the population of Muslims in 11 districts of Assam has increased over the years without analysing the causes. This again does not give them the right to welcome Hindu Bangladeshis through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), 2016,” Changmai said.
“We therefore appeal to the people not to be misled by such statements and live peacefully in the state,” he said. AJYCP also announced a series of protests from January 26 against the proposed legislation.
“The proposed legislation without an inner-line permit system in place would lead to more influx in Assam. AJYCP has been demanding Constitutional safeguards for the past four decades or so and now we want this Bill scrapped before any move is taken to place it in the Rajya Sabha. We are holding a series of protests, starting with a pada yatra on Republic Day, demonstration on January 30 and a rail blockade across Assam on February 7,” Changmai said.
The AJYCP leader further demanded that the Group of Ministers, constituted to look into the issue of ST status for six indigenous communities, should present their recommendations during the current Rajya Sabha session, which will culminate on February 13.
“The Group of Ministers had yesterday said it would present their recommendations on February 15. However, the Rajya Sabha session would be over thereby deferring the placement of the Constitution (ST) Amendment Bill, 2019 in the House,” he said.