Assam Polls: Congress promises ‘grand memorial’ to remember anti-CAA movement

GUWAHATI:

Congress leaders in Assam promised the people a grand memorial to serve as a reminder of the Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) movement in 2019.

“In the coming months, Guwahati will see a new landmark: a grand memorial in memory of the anti-CAA movement to be built by the incoming Congress government. This will be the state’s message to BJP: no CAA in Assam,” Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Ripun Bora tweeted.

“After winning the election we shall make a memorial for the anti-CAA people’s movement that has been ongoing in Assam over the last few years. The memorial shall remember the people’s struggles and sacrifices, protest songs and paintings,” senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi tweeted.

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“A party which has worked for over 70 years in building Assam will always stand up for the rights of the Assamese people,” the state Congress informed.

The CAA amended the Citizenship Act, 1955, by providing a pathway to Indian citizenship for refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians, and arrived in India before the end of December 2014. The law does not grant such eligibility to Muslims from those countries.

Anti-CAA protesters in the state maintain that the law violates the Assam Accord.

Recently, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a rally in Sivasagar to kick off the grand old party’s election campaign in the state, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of dividing the people of Assam.

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Gandhi vowed to protect every principle of the Assam Accord and stated that he would not allow the implementation of the CAA if the people voted the Congress to power in the upcoming Assembly polls.

The poll rally at the Boarding playground in Sivasagar also saw Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders on the dais wearing gamocha, the traditional Assamese towel, on which the word “CAA” was crossed out.

The party also launched an Assam Bachao Ahok (Come, let’s save Assam) campaign to establish a strong connection with the people ahead of the polls.

Besides this, the party launched a video clip contest for the people to highlight various issues of the state.

The party stated that it would incorporate the most relevant in the Congress poll manifesto.

(Edited by Ladiangti Rani)

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