Anti-CAA groups plan three separate political parties

GUWAHATI: The anti-citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests that had rattled Assam's ruling BJP until the last month appears to have disintegrated into three fragments, with each drawing up their own plans to form their own political party.
Peasants' body Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi, who has been booked by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) following his protests against CAA and is currently in judicial custody, is likely to form and lead a new regional force to take on BJP in the next year's assembly elections.
Gogoi's former colleague in KMSS, Kamal Kumar Medhi, now a member of Congress, went to meet the arrested leader in central jail here on Tuesday and discussed forming a new regional party. "We had long discussion and he (Gogoi) has hinted that he wants to launch a powerful regional party as an alternative to BJP. He seems to be mentally prepared to lead the new party. We appeal to all forces committed to work for the Assamese people's identity to join hands and together form an uncompromising regional party to oust BJP," Medhi said.
The idea of a regional party as an alternative to Asom Gana Parishad and BJP was first sown amid violent anti-CAA protests at a mass protest rally here in December, which was organised by singer Zubeen Garg and backed by All Assam Students' Union (Aasu).
The students' body, which has been at the centre of every mass movement for protecting Assamese identity, will decide on the formation of a new political party at its state executive and delegation-level meetings here on February 27 and 28.
Aasu general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said, "We sense that there is a strong desire of the people to have a new political party. We will discuss this in our state executive and delegate-level meetings. We will form a new political party if people want. The rise of an alternative political force in Assam is inevitable if people want us to do so."
Few weeks back, renowned filmmaker Jahnu Barua and eminent lawyer Arup Borbora had set the ball rolling to mobilise anti-CAA forces to float a new political party by picking up the thread from a political convention, Anchalikatabad Suraksha Mancha (ASM), which first mooted the idea of a new regional party in Assam just before the declaration of results of the the last Lok Sabha election. This platform comprises people from different sections, including literature, cinema, drama, journalism, tribal organisations, academics, retired officials and intellectuals among others to form a strong regional political force in the state as an alternative to AGP.
Former chief minister and veteran Congress leader Tarun Gogoi too had said an alternative political party had become a necessity to oust BJP from Assam.
Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier said the anti-CAA protests have become a campaign to oust BJP as every protester was talking of a political alternative. He had said if the protests were all about giving birth to a new political party, then BJP would take this as a political challenge and will go to the people with a positive agenda and seek a political mandate.
To counter protesters, Himanta has never missed a chance to claim in public that BJP would prove everyone wrong and win 100 of the 126 seats in 2021. In 2016, the saffron party had won 60 seats and come to power in coalition with AGP and Bodoland People's Front.