By Ashis Biswas
Even a decade ago, it would have been unthinkable for political parties and leaders in Assam to criticise the All Assam Students Union (AASU) for its stand on major political issues concerning the state, or even the Northeast region.
Apparently, the times are a-changing in Assam. State Chief Minister Mr Himanta Biswa Sarma has just launched a blistering attack against the once mighty organisation and its leaders , unceremoniously reminding them that they do not run the Government. As the most prominent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Northeast India, Mr Sarma has crossed swords with the AASU in the past, during pre-poll campaign for the last Assembly elections.
The timing of his present anti-AASU onslaught has been well chosen, according to observers. Only days ago, former State NRC( National Register of Citizens) coordinator Mr Hitesh Dev Sarma sensationally accused AASU Chief Advisor , the veteran Mr Samujjal Bhattacharya , of receiving Rs 15 lakh every month as bribe from former officials connected with the verification of citizenship claims .
Mr Bhattacharya strongly refuted the bribery charge, threatening to sue Mr Dev Sarma for defamation, alleging that the former NRC official had ‘lost his mental balance’.
As the bitter controversy over the botched up NRC operations a few years ago continues, sharpening existing ethnic divides in a political, sensitive state, so does the blame game, as top officials target one another for the expensive officially conducted fiasco. Even the role played by former Supreme Court(SC) Chief Justice Mr Ranjan Gogoi, who took personal interest in the NRC operations, has come into question.
Matters did not improve with Mr Gogoi becoming a Rajya Sabha member from Assam with the BJP’s support after retiring from the judiciary. Other RS members boycotted him, linking his membership with a few SC decisions during his tenure apparently favouring the central government. The ex judge has rejected such accusations.
The object behind the NRC operations was to identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants living in Assam , with the burden of proof shifted entirely on those accused of having entered Indian territory without proper documentation, in case of legal disputes/proceedings. From the start, the operations, headed by state Coordinator Mr. Prateek Hajela an officer of Madhya Pradesh administrative cadre, ran into a series of disputes, legal wrangles, political controversies and contentious HR-related issues.
There was a general impression that the rules of procedure had been made unusually difficult for people whose citizenship was questioned by overzealous officials. Over a period of time, horrendous cases of official excess targeting mostly poor innocent people were reported in the media. Such accounts attracted negative international media attention as major HR groups condemned the exercise, while criticising both state and central Governments. A joint team of hundreds of central/state officials had been put together to assist Mr. Hajela in this most sensitive of exercises.
During the exercise the cost of operations increased from an estimated Rs 280 crore to over Rs 1100 crore as the work often got stalled on account of procedural/administrative delays , poor coordination between concerned departments — the state police, Foreigner’s tribunal officials, Lawyers’ organisations , HR groups and NGOs. HR activists claimed that at least 58 people committed suicide or died of tensions during the head counting operations, failing to secure old documents in time .
Long story short, the final NRC document indicated that out of a total Assam population of around 32 million people, the citizenship status of around 19,00,000 people remained dubious — and the number of Hindus in that category was higher than that of the Muslims.
Such a finding totally contradicted the age-old AASU sponsored narrative of millions and millions of illegal Bangladeshis settled in Assam, encouraged by the Congress and Left parties, to bolster their vote banks. The BJP and most other parties rejected the finally released NRC figures. They are currently pressing for yet another round of NRC operations, to look at the matter afresh.
Significantly, the AASU was involved with the NRC operations at every stage, according to Assam-based media reports. AASU leaders like Bhattacharya and others frequently visited NRC offices and met top officials as well as political leaders in Delhi and Guwahati, to offer suggestions on how to carry out an error-proof operation to decide the citizenship of people..
It was therefore not surprising that the AASU initially did not challenge the final NRC figures. However, when almost all major Assam-based parties rejected the NRC’s claims , some filing their own specific objections, the AASU changed its tune and finally declared the figure of ‘1.9 million dubious people’ as unacceptable ! No wonder, most parties denounced the organisation’s role and behaviour as ‘opportunistic.’
Mr Dev Sarma had taken over from Mr Hajela after the latter had left Assam at the height of the controversy to resume his work in Madhya Pradesh. Cases were filed against NRC authorities for their failures including instances of mismanagement, alleged corruption, various legal irregularities and other major lapses. Mr Sarma did not conceal his doubts about the conduct of the exercise under Mr Hajela, after he had been thoroughly briefed by officers serving under the latter and learning the details of what had really happened.
Apart from accusing Bhattacharya, MrSarma also named another AASU leader in the Assam-based media who he claimed, had warned him not to target the AASU or an of its leaders for the failures of the NRC ‘s work.
His revelations about the AASU’s role had cleared the decks as it were for Mr Biswa Sarma to renew his attack against the organisation.. He said the outfit represented neither the students in Assam nor their guardians. Its role and functioning in the present situation were open to question. If it wanted to join mainstream politics, it should do so openly, the BJP was game to face its challenge. It must not think that the state government was bound to accept its decisions /views as sacrosanct and final. Political business in Assam he asserted would never be done from the offices of the AASU.
Observers recalled that Mr Biswa Sarma had used almost the same rhetoric while taking on the AASU prior to the last Assam assembly polls. (IPA Service)
