News Analysis India

Tag: Assam elections

  • AASU announces protest programme during PM Modi’s February 22 visit

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: All Assam Students Union (AASU) on Saturday announced that it will hold agitations during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state on February 22 to protest against his government’s alleged failure to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

    Member of the students’ organisation will wave black flags and wear black badges at all district and sub-divisional headquarters, AASU President Dipanka Kumar Nath and General Secretary Shankarjyoti Barua said in a release on Saturday.

    The BJP-led government at the Centre has failed the people of Assam by not implementing Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, failing to declare floods and erosion as national problems and not stopping construction of all big dams in the region, including the Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project.

    Nath and Barua that during floods, the prime minister did not bother to visit Assam and had merely reviewed the situation over phone.

    “But now that state election is round the corner, he has come thrice within a month to seek votes,” they said.

    The AASU leaders said that before the 2016 Lok Sabha election, the prime minister had said that all illegal immigrants will have to pack their bags and leave.

    “But the Centre is now conspiring to impose the burden of additional foreigners on Assam by enacting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

    The prime minister during his two earlier visits did not make a single mention of the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, they added.

    The Centre had promised that it will implement the recommendations of the High Level Committee to the last comma and full stop.

    It is now nearly a year that the report was submitted to the state government but it is yet to be sent to the Centre for its implementation, they said.

    “We demand that the prime minister announces on February 22 when the recommendations of the Committee will be implemented as constitutional safeguards are a legitimate rights of the people of the state”, the leaders said.

    AASU had organised protests against Modi’s visit on January 23 demanding repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act hat seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

    As per the clause constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

  • Not willing to contest assembly poll, informed BJP a year ago: Himanta Biswa Sarma

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Senior Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that he communicated to state BJP chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass a year ago that he did not wish to contest the 2021 assembly election.

    He, however, said that if the party decides to field him to contest the poll likely to be held in March-April, he will honour the decision.

    The BJP leader did not disclose the reason for his unwillingness to fight the election.

    ALSO READ | Two journalists arrested for attempt to ‘malign’ Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

    “On my birthday on February 1, 2020, I gave a letter to Ranjeet Dass saying that I don’t want to fight the 2021 assembly polls. This is not known to my wife or son or any family member till now. I am making it public for the first time,” Sarma said.

    “However, there was one line (in that letter) which stated that if the party decides to field me as a candidate, I will follow the party’s instruction,” said Sarma, also the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the regional arm of the NDA.

    The letter was hand-written and not typed, he said.

  • Our government committed to Assam’s welfare, Act East Policy to make state connected: S Jaishankar

    Jaishankar also highlighted how international partnerships can make a difference in the development of a state.

  • Bodoland People’s Front not to be part of BJP-led NDA in Assam elections: Himanta Biswa Sarma

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday made it clear that the ruling BJP will not have any alliance with its existing ally Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) in the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.

    In the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), the BJP has already formed an alliance with the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) and is currently holding talks with another outfit Gana Suraksha Party (GSP) regarding seat-sharing arrangements, Sarma said.

    “We have been telling it many times that our alliance with BPF was for five years only and both sides were committed to it. They are still in our government and it is healthy politics,” the BJP leader said.

    In the BTR, the BJP will have a seat-sharing agreement with the UPPL and Lok Sabha MP Naba Sarania-led GSP, Sarma, who is also Convenor of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the NDA version in the north-east, said.

    ALSO READ | I am extremist in protecting Indian, Assamese culture: Himanta Biswa Sharma

    Formed in 2005, BPF is a state political party in Assam with its headquarters in Kokrajhar.

    “We have already started negotiations with Sarania and it is moving in the positive direction. We will announce our candidates within 48 hours of announcing poll dates,” he added.

    BPF’s relation with BJP went sour during the latest elections of the 40-member Bodoland Territorial Council, where the saffron party dumped its state ally BPF and formed the council government in alliance with UPPL and GSP.

    The BJP is currently the single largest party in the 126-member Assam house with 60 MLAs, while its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and BPF now have 13 and 11 lawmakers respectively.

    ALSO READ | Congress will not let CAA be implemented if voted to power in Assam: Rahul

    The ruling coalition also has the support of an Independent MLA.

    The new regional party Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), which has formed an alliance with another fresh political outfit Raijor Dal, has recently said that it is talking to the BPF and “it is moving in the positive direction”.

    The elections to the Assam Assembly are likely in March- April.

    The 2016 elections gave a fractured mandate and no party got an absolute majority in the current assembly.

    The opposition Congress has 19 MLAs at present, while the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has 14 members in the house in Assam.

  • Assam’s BJP government fulfilled expectations of people, will return to power: CM Sarbananda Sonowal

    After Sonowal #39;s speech, the House passed the #39;Vote on Account Budget for 2021-22 #39; of Rs 60,784.03 crore for a period of six months from April to September.

  • Assam government gives land ownership to 471 small tea growers ahead of Assembly polls

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Two days after the government distributed Rs 3,000 to 7.47 lakh tea garden workers in Assam, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday handed over land ownership to 471 small tea growers, ahead of the Assembly polls.

    Sonowal distributed land pattas to 471 small tea growers of Dibrugarh district and laid the foundation stone for a district science centre at Khanikar.

    He said by providing land ownership, the government established their rights over the land of an area measuring 2,778 bighas.

    The chief minister further assured to positively look into the issues raised by the small tea growers such as survey of land of the growers, timely supply of fertilizers, promoting use of organic fertilizers and exposure tour for small tea growers.

    On February 6, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had distributed Rs 3,000 to 7.47 lakh tea garden workers, who had earlier received Rs 5,000 in two phases.

    The elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly are likely in March-April of this year.

    The ruling BJP currently doesn’t have a majority and is running a coalition government.

    Tea tribes form a sizeable chunk of the electorate in Assam and play an important role in deciding fate of a candidate in several constituencies in upper Assam region.

    The tea garden community members earlier backed the Congress but since 2016 the BJP has increased its influence among them and in the upcoming polls the saffron party is making efforts to further enhance its outreach.

    Sonowal also said that people of the state will never allow any vested interest group to tarnish the image of Assam tea.

    “Several lakh people associated with the tea sector in Assam and the state government will remain strictly vigilant and leave no stone unturned to foil the conspiracy hatched against Assam tea,” he added.

    On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that an international conspiracy has been hatched to “defame” the Indian tea, on a visit to Assam, a major producer of the brew.

    The Prime Minister was apparently refering to Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg’s controversial ‘toolkit’, which she tweeted and then deleted, outlining ways in which people can participate in the farmers protest.

    One of the points reportedly mentioned there was to “disrupt yoga and chai (tea) image of India in general”.

    NGO Greenpeace had also claimed in a report a few years ago about alleged overuse of pesticides in Indian tea industry.

  • United front of regional, ethnic communities-based parties likely in Assam

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: After six opposition parties, led by the Congress, came forward to jointly fight the upcoming Assam polls, the state could now see the formation of a grand alliance of some regional and ethnic communities-based parties.

    Former leader of the All Assam Students’ Union Lurinjyoti Gogoi, who now heads the Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), said they were working to form a grand alliance with AJP, Raijor Dal, Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), Gana Shakti, tribal councils etc.

    “Our thrust is on a regional equation. This front is going to happen,” Gogoi told The New Indian Express on Thursday.

    He said the AJP’s alliance with Raijor Dal and ASDC, which is based in Karbi Anglong, had been finalised.

    ALSO READ | 1,000 doses of Covid vaccine get frozen, wasted in Assam; officials blame refrigerators

    “The indigenous communities of Rabhas, Tiwas, Bodos and Mishings are left. We feel two of them will come aboard. The tribals are Assam’s sons of the soil. They have to be given a political space,” Gogoi said.

    Stating that they stand for inclusive politics, he said the alliance had plans to field candidates in all 126 seats.

    Recently, the Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) had appealed to the AJP and the Raijor Dal to join the grand alliance of opposition parties. The AJP rejected it outright.

    “We will not join it. The BJP and the Congress do not have any ideological differences. The Congress had submitted an affidavit in Supreme Court to impose the illegal immigrants in Assam as part of its vote-bank politics. As regards the AIUDF, we all know it was floated after the scrapping of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act to protect the illegal immigrants. So, there is no question of joining this grand alliance,” Gogoi said. 

    He believed there would not be any division of anti-BJP votes since people would reject the Congress and the AIUDF. 

    “The fight will be between us and the BJP. But the BJP votes have eroded after the state-wide agitation against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). Similarly, the Congress and the AIUDF have also suffered erosions of 60% of their votes,” Gogoi claimed.

    AJP and Raijor Dal were floated last year against the backdrop of the anti-CAA agitation. 

    Two days ago, the Congress had announced the grand alliance of opposition parties. It has three Left parties, regional Anchalik Gana Morcha besides Congress and AIUDF.