GUWAHATI: Ahead of the Assembly elections in Assam, the Opposition Congress is making it all the more evident that the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be a major poll plank.
Senior Congress leaders in the state have taken a hardened stand against CAA and are now promising people a “grand memorial” to commemorate the martyrdom of anti-CAA protesters who sacrificed their lives during the movement.
“In the coming months, Guwahati will see a new landmark: a grand memorial in memory of the anti-CAA movement to be built by the incoming Congress government. This will be the state’s message to BJP: no CAA in Assam,” APCC president Ripun Bora said on Tuesday.
Chairman of the Congress campaign committee, Pradyut Bordoloi said that the memorial for the anti-CAA people’s movement will be built after the “party wins the elections”. “The memorial shall remember the people’s struggles and sacrifices, protest songs and paintings,” the senior Congress leader said.
Echoing the same sentiment, Congress manifesto committee chairman Gaurav Gogoi also asserted that the party would build a memorial to salute the supreme sacrifice of the anti-CAA protesters.
“The reason why Congress has announced that it would make a memorial for the anti-CAA struggle is to make sure the future generations remember how the people stood up to the autocratic rule of BJP and its imposition of an anti-Assamese law,” claimed Abdul Khaleque, the chairman of the Congress media and communications committee.
Under CAA, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 after facing religious persecution will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
Last Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a rally in Sivasagar to kick off the grand old party’s election campaign in the state, accused BJP and the RSS of “dividing” Assam.
Gandhi vowed to protect every principle of the Assam Accord and not let CAA be implemented if Congress was voted to power in the upcoming Assembly polls.
The party has also launched an “Assam Bachao Ahok” (Come, let’s save Assam) campaign with leaders and members meeting people across the state in a bid to establish a strong connect ahead of the polls.
As part of the campaign, the party recently launched a video contest for the electorate to highlight pressing issues of Assam, the most relevant of which would be incorporated in the Congress’ manifesto ahead of the April polls.