GUWAHATI: Even as BJP has gone silent on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Assam, which the opposition says is possibly to avoid the wrath of the indigenous communities, Congress on Tuesday announced that the party will build a memorial to commemorate the martyrdom of anti-CAA protesters who sacrificed their lives to save ‘Assamese pride’.
The movement against the CAA lost its vigourisity in Assam with the imposition of the nationwide lockdown due to outbreak of the pandemic. But with Rahul Gandhi affirming that the CAA is a big issue in the coming assembly election, Congress said anti-CAA sentiments have been stirred up again. The statement from the state Congress leadership came just two days after RaGa firmly stated that Congress will respect the Assam Accord and will not implement the “botched-up CAA” if sworn to power.
“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 struggle and sacrifices, protest songs and paintings,” said Pradyut Bordoloi, chairman of the Congress campaign committee, on Tuesday.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Ripun Bora said the grand memorial will be built in the capital city Guwahati. “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,” Bora told reporters.
As the Congress is reiterating its stand to welcome all anti-CAA and anti-BJP fronts to their grand alliance, Congress manifesto committee chairman Gaurav Gogoi said the Grand Old party won’t allow the supreme sacrifice of the anti-CAA protestors go into vain.
“The struggle against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. Congress promises to build a memorial for the anti-CAA movement after winning the election. Assam doesn’t want CAA,” said Gogoi.
The Congress leaders are campaigning hard against CAA as they are touring all 126 constituencies through “Axom Basaon Ahok” (Let’s Save Assam) Yatra.
“We shall never forget the BJP’s black law, the repression, crackdown, arrest of people who dared to oppose CAA. Assam will win,” said Congress leader Rakibul Hussain.
The Congress leadership is interacting and taking feedback from all sections of society on unemployment and other pertinent issues plaguing the state. But the CAA is on top of their charter. Unlike BJP leaders for whom “development agenda” has surpassed the CAA, Congress MP Abdul Khaleque said, “We want to make sure that future generations remember how the people stood up to the autocratic rule of BJP and its imposition of an anti-Assamese law.”