AGP, BJP seeking AASU support

GUWAHATI, March 28: With the State Assembly polls approaching, the major political parties are trying to gather the support of the non-political organisations and both the ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have sought the support of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU). Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, the AASU president Prabin Boro said that the State unit of the BJP sought the help of the AASU for the coming polls and "we had several rounds of discussion with the BJP leaders. We have categorically told the BJP leaders that if the BJP acts on the issues raised by the AASU, the people of Assam would support the party." He said that the BJP could have repealed the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, if the party really had interest in solving the problem of influx of foreigners. He said that though the BJP leaders had been claiming that the BJP-led government could not repeal the IMDT Act, because it did not have majority in the Rajya Sabha, the NDA government could have repealed the Act by bringing an ordinance. The AASU president revealed that a delegation of the students' organisation had a meeting with Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in the Guwahati circuit house on March 16 to discuss problems faced by the families of the Assam agitation. During the course of the meeting, Mahanta who is also the president of the AGP, sought the support of the AASU for the ensuing polls, Boro said. "We have told the AGP president that it would not be possible for the AASU to extend active support to the AGP. We also told Mahanta that his government totally failed to solve the burning problems of the State including the problem of infiltration of foreigners." The AASU also threatened to expose the weaknesses of the political parties and their leaders before the public. Boro revealed that in its last general conference held at Bongaigaon last month the AASU decided to maintain equal distance from all the political parties. He said that the AASU has started the process of dialogues with the students' unions of the ethnic groups and to draw up a charter of demands on the burning problems of the State. He said that the Union would then call upon the political parties to clarify their stand on the burning problems of the State. The AASU has already held discussions with the Tribal Students' Federation (TSF), and apex body of the students' unions of 14 ethnic groups, and the Deuri Students' Union in this regard and discussions will soon be held with the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) and other such organisations. The AASU president said that the students' union on its own, has identified some of the burning problems of the State. The AASU is of the view that the Government should hold discussion with the insurgent outfits without any pre-condition and called upon the political parties to make their stand clear on the issue. On the problems of the ethnic groups, the AASU is of the view that the Union government should form a high-power commission to examine the demand for autonomy and scheduling of the ethnic groups. Boro further pointed out that till date the Union government has not considered floods in Assam as a national problem and the state government, on its part, failed even to release the funds sanctioned by the North Eastern Council for flood control schemes. He said that the political parties should include the demand for considering flood as a national problem in their election agenda. The AASU president also pointed out that majority of the political parties had been trying to avoid the issue of influx of foreigners in a bid to winning over the votes of the illegal migrants.