Though the political parties have started making tall promises in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, none could come out with a well planned road map for the solution of the burning problems concerning the people of Assam, alleged the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU). The students’ body also said that the people have heard enough of promises and it is time for the political parties to announce time bound action plan for the solution of the burning problems of the State.
Talking to Media, AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya pointed out that the political parties have started making tall promises to woo the voters, but no party could come out with a comprehensive action plan for the solution of the burning problems of the State. The parties have been making promises to solve the problem of unemployment, but the youths are now frustrated because of lack of adequate opportunities. Both Congress and BJP made promises for solution of the problem of unemployment in the past also but those remained on papers only. The parties should announce a road map for dealing with the problem of unemployment and improve education facilities in Assam, he added. He also said that despite repeated demands by the AASU, successive Governments at the Centre did not take any step for setting up an Indian Institute of Science Education and Research and other such institution in Assam.
Bhattacharya pointed out that the major political parties including the Congress and the BJP have been claiming that if voted to power, they will deal with the problem of infiltration of foreigners, but none of the parties could announce a specific time bound programme for implementation of the main clauses of the Assam Accord. Only making tall promises will not help Assam and its indigenous people. The indigenous people do not want Assam to be second Kashmir or second Tripura and over the years, Governments at Delhi, headed by both Congress and BJP failed to play their role in implementation of the Assam Accord. Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not find time in his five year tenure to hold a meeting to review the implementation of the Accord, while, during the UPA regime, the then Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh held a meeting on the issue way back in 2005 but the decisions taken were not implemented on the ground, Bhattacharya added.
The AASU chief adviser said that the major political parties failed to spell out when the international border will be sealed, when the process of detection and deportation of foreigners would be expedited, when the clauses 6 and 7 of the Accord would be implemented and when the tribal belts and blocks would be protected by evicting those who are staying illegally. He said that no political party can take credit for the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) as the process is going well only because of strict monitoring by the Supreme Court. At the same time, he asserted that the indigenous people of the State would never accept the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to provide citizenship to foreigners.
All parties claim that they will take steps for the solution of the problems of flood and erosion, which is seriously affecting the economy of the State, but no party gave a clear cut assurance of declaring those as national problems and what roadmap they have to deal with it.
