Cong anti-indigenous, says Aasu

GUWAHATI: The All Assam Students' Union (Aasu) on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Congress and the Tarun Gogoi government for allowing Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh) MP Sanjay Singh to contest one of the three Rajya Sabha seats in the state.
"Congress and its government's anti-indigenous stand has now been exposed. Was there no eligible indigenous candidate in the state to contest the Rajya Sabha election that Congress had to bring in Singh who has no connection with the state? Had Congress sympathy to indigenous people been sincere, chief minister Tarun Gogoi and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhubaneswar Kalita would have not allowed such a thing," said Aasu adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya.
Pitching up the demand for providing constitutional safeguards to Assam by reserving all seats for indigenous people, Aasu president Shankar Prasad Roy said from local bodies to parliamentary elections, all seats in the state should be reserved for indigenous people.
The Aasu president, however, clarified that by indigenous people it includes all communities who reside in Assam and have accepted the cultural ethos of the state. "In Singh's case, he is an outsider as he is someone who is not from our state. The Congress has shown disrespect to the indigenous people of Assam but preferring an outsider," he said.
Roy also blamed AICC president Sonia Gandhi in paving the way for Singh to contest from the state.
"Along with Gogoi and Kalita, Sonia is equally responsible for dumping an outsider (Singh) to contest polls without paying any heed to the sentiments of people of the state. After all, it is because of Sonia Gandhi's nod that Singh was sent to the state to contest Rajya Sabha election," alleged Roy.
Aasu said while its activists have already resorted to burning of effigies against Congress on Wednesday, it would intensify its agitation soon against Singh.
On the other hand, hundreds of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) activists on Wednesday stormed into a hotel complex here where Singh supposedly was staying, demanding cancellation of his nomination. Police rushed to the spot and detained many KMSS activists.