GUWAHATI, Feb 8 ? The North East Students? Organisation (NESO) has called upon all the political parties to make their stand clear on the crucial issues facing the people of the region before the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, the chairman of the NESO, Samujjal Bhattacharya, alleged that none of the major political parties could take bold steps on the crucial issues of the region including the influx of foreigners, job reservation for local youths, economic development of the region etc and threatened that if the parties fail to make their stand clear before the polls, ?they would face the music during the poll campaign.?
The NESO chairman said that the Central Government is not keen on solving the genuine problems of the region and even after a 72-hour region-wide hunger strike by the NESO members, the Centre failed to respond positively. He said that the NESO launched the region-wide movement demanding hundred percent reservation of jobs in all Central Government offices for local youths, solution to the problem of influx of foreigners, economic development of the region, steps for human resource development, action against the persons involved in the attacks on train passengers of North East in Bihar, etc.
But the Centre failed to show positive response to the democratic movement leaving the NESO with no other option but to launch a vigorous movement. He said that deliberation with the constituent units of the NESO are on and a meeting of the Organisation would be held in the third week of this month to chalk out the future course of action.
He pointed out that the problem of influx is not just a problem of Assam and Tripura as it has affected the entire region. But, despite promises, the BJP-led Government at the Centre failed to repeal the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals ) Act. In fact, the Bill for repealing the Act never came up for discussion in the last session of Parliament, he pointed out.
The NESO is critical of the Members of Parliament from the region and alleged that they failed to play their part for the development of the region. The NESO also demanded that the MPs from the region should work unitedly to put pressure on the Central Government for the solution of the genuine problems of the region. If the MPs from other States of the country can fight jointly for the development of their States, there is no reason as to why the MPs from the North East cannot fight jointly, Bhattacharya said.
The NESO demanded that the North East should be treated as a special economic and employment zone and all the jobs in Central Government offices in the region should be kept reserved for local youths. The Organisation is also of the view that the jurisdiction of the NF Railway should be confined only to the region.
Meanwhile, the move of the All Assam Students? Union (AASU) and the Asam Unnati Sabha to constitute the ?Asomiya Sena? to fight for the interests of the indigenous people is gathering momentum and Bhattacharya, who is also the adviser of the AASU, said that the new force would be launched at an appropriate time.
Bhattacharya said that the Sena would be a force to fight for the interest of the local people and the genuine Indian citizens in a ?non-violent but aggressive manner?. He said that the modalities of the new force are being finalised and the AASU and Unnati Sabha are considering the views of all sections of people of Assam including that of the ethnic groups in this regard.
He said that the first activity of the force would be to ensure hundred percent reservation of jobs in all the Central and private sector offices for locals. ?When we use the word local, we are not against the Indian citizens who have been staying here for years and studied in the region. But we are against outsiders coming here only for grabbing jobs,? he added.