From anti-immigrant motion that gave Assam two CMs to in close proximity to-irrelevance — rise & tumble of AASU

It has submitted a writ petition in the Supreme Courtroom trying to find the annulment of the Citizenship Modification Procedures, 2024, although asserting that the Centre’s notification of the Procedures on 11 March contradicts the Assam Accord and Part 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955. The AASU believes that the CAA contradicts the purpose of the Nationwide Sign up of Citizens (NRC).
Previously this thirty day period, Main Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asserted that he will action down if non-NRC candidates achieve citizenship via the CAA — his text looks to have calmed tempers and slackened the movement, but analysts and political observers also level at the dwindling clout of the organisation, whose 6-year movement from ‘outsiders’ or ‘foreigners’ had led to the Assam Accord in 1985.Six decades given that its inception, critics level out the earlier lapses and the present AASU leadership’s take a look at of sincerity above the CAA situation. A sequence of interrelated events above the earlier just about two a long time has step by step dragged the students’ organisation into virtual insignificance, they say.The weakened movement has led to some analysts questioning if several sympathisers of the bring about are also suspicious of the AASU’s sincerity for the reason that of its “past background of alleged compromise”.When the election fervour has taken a lot wind out of the AASU’s sail, some sense that the only recourse is now via the doorways of the Supreme Courtroom — the apex courtroom has presently taken up the concern for evaluation.
“The AASU has unsuccessful to calibrate its methods with the modified political setting. It is not stunning that the organisation finds by itself in a mess now, and is not able to keep the place in university student politics,” a single of the observers tells ThePrint.But, AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya tells ThePrint that the aim continues to be intact considering the fact that its formation — securing the future of Assam and the indigenous persons, and a protected foreseeable future for the learners.“It is a steady journey, a steady wrestle. Every time there has been a crisis circumstance influencing the indigenous people, the AASU has led from the entrance. Because the incredibly commencing, we have included quite a few milestones, and as time improvements, and with development of know-how, our techniques much too have adjusted,” Bhattacharyya claims.One more political analyst statements that the movements of the AASU have shed steam around the a long time even as the students’ union along with the Asam Sahitya Sabha, the apex literary physique in the condition, continue being the “pillars of the Assamese community”, the Jatiya (nationwide) organisations.
“Along with the AASU, Assam has noticed the emergence of a number of ethnic organisations led by youths in their districts. That the AASU requires the aid of 30 ethnic groups indicates it has weakened around the yrs. The way it collectively led movements in the earlier involving the full scholar fraternity of Assam is not a great deal witnessed now. It also signifies the eroding help of folks in various components of the point out in the direction of the college student human body,” the analyst mentioned.“Even all through the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) rule, the way the AASU was envisioned to combat for the rights and identity of the Assamese individuals did not come about. Now, the CAA has been applied in Assam. Will the AASU even now prohibit by itself to memorandums and slogans?”The AGP leaders were primarily pupil activists of the Assam Motion. Formed two months immediately after the Assam Accord was signed on 15 August 1985, the AGP experienced absent on to win the condition election held in December that yr under the management of Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. The AGP fashioned the authorities for a 2nd time in 1996.Similarly, former main minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who moved the Supreme Court docket against the now scrapped Unlawful Migrants (Dedication by Tribunals) Act, commenced as a university student leader with the AASU in advance of signing up for the AGP. In February 2011, he resigned from the AGP and joined the BJP which made him the main minister five many years afterwards.
Bhattacharyya clarifies that the AASU will get the job done only with ideologically identical outfits and on frequent grounds.“When violence erupted in Barpeta through the NRC updating work out in 2017, AASU and 26 ethnic organisations joined fingers in opposition to the Bangladeshi foyer. The variety little by little greater to 30. We are doing work alongside one another on typical concerns, and also with the Sahitya Sabha models. It’s a cordial atmosphere in Assam simply because of that,” he says.Former Assam DGP and famous author Harekrishna Deka feels that the AASU-led agitation in 2019 gained mass help, mostly in city centres, but the concept unsuccessful to access the rural places.“The existential fear of the indigenous people is strong but at the exact same time, no ethnic organisation has been ready to gain uncritical rely on of the people. They are unable to galvanise rural people as right before. The Assam Agitation, owning begun with a roar, finished in a whimper the folks resignedly, but grudgingly recognized the Assam Accord. The masses look not so substantially affected by the fatigued pattern of agitation and do not give blind assist to these methods as they did just before,” he claims.
Sounding a warning, Deka suggests a possible reduction of ethnic population can verify disruptive in the potential, as is currently being witnessed in Manipur. The discontent could have apparently weakened on the political area — with solid undercurrents not obvious on the ground, he warns.“If the future Census demonstrates that the proportion of ethnic inhabitants has been reduced, ensuing in more erosion of their political space, a centrifugal force may perhaps manifest strongly to complicate the federal structure. Nevertheless the problems of Manipur and Assam are various, its fault line may possibly equally be complicated.”Reacting to the announcement of a statewide anti-CAA agitation, Raijor Dal chief and Sivsagar legislator Akhil Gogoi experienced stated that AASU’s movement was very little but a “drama to demonstrate its presence”.“CAA is unconstitutional, communal and a legislation from the passions of the Assamese local community. Assam’s 80 % populace had revolted against the CAA in 2019. But AASU’s programme implies only that they have taken up selected plans in session with the point out governing administration, maybe not to upset it,” he tells ThePrint.

Also Read through: Renewed protests in Assam around CAA procedures notification 
Scholar politics in Assam & AASU’s journey
As witnessed in the position performed by All India College students Federation‘s (AISF) Assam unit throughout the liberty struggle of India, students were at the forefront of socio-political movements submit Independence as well — be it the Refinery Movement of 1956, and the Language Movement in the 1960s.In the ten years that adopted, an upsurge in pupil activism was noticed in the 1972 movement that demanded Assamese as a medium of instruction up to university stage, the 1974 Food and Economic Agitation, and the 1979-85 Assam Movement that sought the detection of unlawful immigrants, their deletion from voter list and deportation to Bangladesh.Shaped in 1967, the AASU was a consequence of the churn generated by political events and organisations who arrived alongside one another, despite political and ideological differences, to wage a joint battle from the then prevailing economic disaster which include cost hike of essentials.
Little by little, AASU gained importance as a mass students’ foundation, and assumed an unbiased and apolitical character. The next 15-20 years subsequent the sixties had been the many years of protest and political turbulence in Assam. Although the aspirations of many of these scholar leaders remained unfulfilled, some were being pushed to consolidation of electric power by joining politics.The analyst quoted before believes the yr 1985 was the end of AASU’s character as a formidable university student organisation, in particular just after the formation of the AGP.“AGP and AASU labored in a parallel way — every influencing the other in diverse moments. After 1985, their actions have not been capable to make development. The attitude of youth changed, as well. They began to consider that the platform of AASU is their next action to politics,” he states.Elaborating on the position of the AASU leaders who joined politics, Deka conditions it a “poor shadow of its predecessors”.
“After the Assam Accord, the college student leaders’ concealed agenda of capturing political electrical power was exposed, and misgovernance built them unpopular. The future generation of the AASU continue to acquired some emotive space on different troubles, but it has by no means been mind-boggling. There has been loss of trustworthiness of AASU leaders about the years,” the author stated.
Also Examine: Will resign if anybody not part of NRC gets citizenship, claims Himanta amid CAA protest in Assam 
‘No outcomes for Assam Accord, NRC & CAA’
In accordance to the analysts, the AASU has unsuccessful to see any result in to its rational conclusion — be it the NRC, the CAA, the Clause 6 of Assam Accord, the modern threat to Assamese language as medium of instruction, or the typical of increased training in Assam.As an example, one of the political analysts highlights the hold off in implementation of the Accord that was signed amongst the Centre and the leaders of the AASU and the regional political social gathering, All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP).
The Assam Accord promised that all immigrants who arrived in Assam following 1965 would be disenfranchised, and deportation of individuals settling immediately after 1971. Also, the date of 25 March 1971 was acknowledged as the slice-off day for the identification of “foreigners”. This officially marked the end of the 6-12 months Assam Motion that started out in 1979.But Assam “could not recuperate from the deep scars remaining by the political unrest”, writes Professor Arupjyoti Saikia in his e-book ‘The Quest for Fashionable Assam’.The claims made in 1985 nonetheless stay unfulfilled, asserts a senior citizen of Guwahati. “After 6 many years of the Assam Motion, and almost 40 several years because the Assam Accord was signed, approximately 46 yrs have absent by — and we have only lifted slogans, bearing no final results.”On his part, Bhattacharya says that non-implementation of the Assam Accord is a authorities difficulty.
“AASU has been constantly hammering for implementation of the Assam Accord and all its clauses. All consecutive governments did practically nothing to acquire it forward. It is only mainly because of the AASU stress to employ Clause 6 that the authorities fashioned a superior-degree committee. AASU associates had been also portion of the committee, and we could post the report in time. But till day, it has not been implemented,” he says.The clause promotions with legislative and administrative safeguards promised by the Centre to defend the Assamese cultural, social and linguistic identification, and heritage.“We want the foreigners’ issue to be solved urgently. The remaining NRC effects were being not satisfactory when we found that more than 40 lakh people today have been excluded. These numbers are supplied by the governing administration, not the AASU. We demanded recertification lengthy back again for a Bangladeshi-absolutely free NRC,” Bhattacharyya says.In top the anti-CAA motion, Bhattacharya suggests that the men and women of Assam desired a democratic, tranquil and non-violent motion.
Justifying the organisation’s purpose in the anti-CAA motion, he states that the AASU was the first from Northeast to file a petition demanding the act. Of the 247 petitions from throughout the place, 53 are from the Northeast together with 50 from Assam, Bhattacharyya tells ThePrint.Deka asserts the Centre tackled the CAA issue “cleverly” by not framing principles, and could divert the attention of the masses from it following the declaration of elections.“The leaders of AASU and other organisations shaped various political events, so diffusing their strength. The information versus the CAA did not percolate down to the rural masses, and politically, these leaders slice a sorry determine in election,” he extra, referring to regional political parties formed soon after the unrest like the Asom Jatiyatabadi Parishad (AJP) led by previous AASU standard secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi, and the Raijor Dal.The AJP and Raijor Dal, shaped by a committee of Assamese intellectuals constituted by the AASU and the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), experienced jointly made a decision to contest the condition election in 2021. Lurinjyoti Gogoi rose to prominence in 2021 soon after the development of the AJP.
There have also been many incidents of AASU leaders shifting allegiance from one political get together to one more.For occasion, AASU chief Zoii Nath Sarmah served as MLA from 1991 to 2001 in Sipajhar constituency on AGP ticket, and afterwards joined the Congress in 2016. In January, AASU president Dipanka Nath, who severed his 20-as well as several years ties in 2022, joined the BJP. He was joined by former AASU vice-president Prakash Das. The next month, Congress chief Shankar Prasad Rai, who was previously with the students’ outfit, joined the BJP.The analyst clarifies that if AASU has to return to the glory of its formative a long time, it has to fulfil all brings about taken up till date — in a time-certain method, “by remaining apolitical, and with people’s support”.“The AASU experienced been a potent organisation. If the AASU has grown weak, it usually means a massive reduction for Assam. For the potential of the scholar fraternity, the AASU should really introspect and revise its procedures. With the formation of just about every new committee, the past committee of the AASU management leaves the organisation to sign up for politics,” he claims.
Bhattacharyya, in the meantime, asserts that the organisation nevertheless stays “apolitical”.(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Go through: ‘Even Ram bhakts in Assam really don’t have Aadhaar’: Congress MLA & CM Sarma’s war of phrases over NRC 
 

Supply url