Assam Cong urges people to share gamosas with anti-CAA messages

GUWAHATI:

A day after promising people to set up a “grand memorial” to remember the martyrs of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) movement, the Opposition Congress in Assam on Wednesday appealed to people of the state to share gamosas (traditional Assamese towel) with anti-CAA messages.

The grand old party has asked its cadres/members to make door-to-door visits to collect at least 50 lakh gamosas (traditional Assamese towel) with anti-CAA messages.

Party sources said the gamosas collected from people would be displayed at the martyrs’ memorial in Guwahati.

“The Congress is building an anti-CAA memorial in Guwahati, and I would request every Assamese to share gamosas with your message with us. You may sign the gamosa and send it to us through courier or hand it over to any party worker when he visits you,” Congress manifesto committee Chairman, Gaurav Gogoi said while addressing a meeting in Bihpuria town in Lakhimpur district on Wednesday.

As it is, the Opposition Congress has sought to make CAA a major poll plank having already embarked on an ambitious “Assam Bachao Ahok” (Come let’s save Assam) campaign with senior party leaders touring across the state to build a rapport with the electorate ahead of the Assembly elections in April.

“Your chance to be a part of history! Humbly request you to write why you don’t want CAA in Assam with your name on a gamosa and send it to INC Assam office. It will find a place at the grand memorial to be built in Guwahati in memory of the anti-CAA movement,” Gogoi posted on his Twitter handle to reach out to the masses on social media.

Other senior party leaders also joined in to appeal to the masses “to become a part of history”.

“We have our ears on the ground and we expect that the party will get at least 50 lakh gamosas from the state and all of them will be displayed at the memorial,” Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president, Ripun Bora said.

Debabrata Saikia, the Congress Legislature Party leader in the outgoing Assembly, said that “the dark days of BJP’s oppression are about to get over and Congress will make sure that CAA is not implemented in Assam.”

Congress publicity committee Chairman Rakibul Hussain asserted the gamosas will display the public sentiment against the “black law”.

“Let us write a new chapter in history, together! Pay heed to Assam Congress’s request of sending a gamosa with your name and message to the Congress party office and have it memorialised at the anti-CAA grand memorial that will come up in Guwahati when Congress comes to power,” Hussain said in a tweet.

(Edited by Laxmi Chyrmang)