News Analysis India

Tag: Raijor Dal

  • 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.

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    “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.

  • Assam activist Akhil Gogoi to lead newly-floated party Raijor Dal from jail

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: The newly-floated Raijor Dal in Assam has named jailed activist Akhil Gogoi as its president.

    He will lead the party from the Central Jail in Guwahati. A decision towards this effect was made at the party’s three-day-long Moranhat convention on Friday night.

    The Raijor Dal was floated in October last year by 70 organisations led by peasants’ organisation Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) of which Gogoi is a leader.

    The Gauhati High Court had on Thursday rejected the activist’s bail plea. He was arrested by the police in December 2019 when the protests in Assam against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) had turned violent, leading to loss of lives.

    Later, he was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a case registered against him by the police in Guwahati. The case pertains to his alleged links with the CPI (Maoist). The NIA had charged him with sedition, intention to cause riot against national integration, punishment for criminal conspiracy and unlawful association under Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

    Assam’s Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Gogoi was arrested by the NIA for his links with the CPI (Maoist) and not due to his role in the anti-CAA protests.

    “The NIA has got evidence of his linkage to the CPI (Maoist). Based on it, the agency has continued with its investigation,” Sarma said.

    He said the NIA, in its chargesheet, mentioned Gogoi had attempted to carry out activities in Assam at the behest of the CPI (Maoist) after getting some KMSS members trained at its camps.

    Meanwhile, the Raijor Dal held long sessions with intellectuals, social scientists, academics, prominent personalities and activists at the convention on Friday.

    In September last year, the Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) was floated by student bodies All Assam Students’ Union and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad. The general perception is that AJP and Raijor Dal will cut into the votes of another regional party Asom Gana Parishad or AGP. The Assembly elections are expected in April.