Guwahati, Sept 7: The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) on Tuesday decided to join hands towards political cooperation and begin an initiative to form an united forum of all regional political parties of the North Eastern region towards a regional political movement.

Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Tuesday, AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi said, “We have decided to join hands with Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance led by Pradyut Manikya Deb Barma to strengthen the regional political movement. The final decision in this regard will be announced soon after having dialogues with all regional political parties of North Eastern states.”

He stated that it is a well known fact that the indigenous people of the North Eastern states including Assam have been facing betrayal and deceit since long. “It is unfortunate that the indigenous people of North-East India have been left to struggle for their self-respect and identity while the country is celebrating 75th Independence Anniversary,” he said.
He added that the people of Northeast are realizing and even paying off for the consequences due to the BJP’s aggressive agenda in order to strengthen their foothold in the Northeast.

“ As a part of BJP’s divisive and communal politics, they are trying to implement their concept of ‘Hindutva’ which is different from the age old traditions of Hinduism based on love and compassion. As a result, many ethnic traditions and languages have become either extinct or endangered,” the AJP president claimed.

Pradyut Manikya Deb Barma said, “The governments led by BJP at the centre and few states of the Northeast have been trying to ignore the voices of the indigenous communities of the region to fulfill their narrow political ends. With this aim in mind the NDA government at the centre enacted the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) ignoring the rightful protests of the indigenous people of the Northeastern region.”

“It is a known fact that due to influx of illegal foreigners from erstwhile East Bengal the Tripuri population of Tripura has become minority in the state. As a result the language of the Tripuri people Kokborok has also become out of place in the state. Similarly, illegal influx has also affected Assam in a big way and due to this the Assamese speaking population has also gone down to a great extent. In spite of this the decision of implementation of the CAA in Assam by NDA has thrown Assam into great crisis,” he added.

He further said, “We, the deprived, oppressed, ignored and exploited communities of the North Eastern region have taken the pledge to strengthen the regional political movement unitedly and take it forward.”

During the meeting, both the parties have also put forward their demands.

Demands of the parties

– To immediately repeal the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which has already been passed in Parliament.

– The updation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) must be completed without any further delay.

– Demand constitutional provisions for protection of identity and culture of the all indigenous people of Tripura including the Tripuries immediately. The demand of Tipraland/Greater Tipraland has to be accepted in writing.

– Immediate implementation of the Assam Accord in totality. The Report on Clause VI of the Assam Accord submitted by the High Level Committee must be implemented in letter and spirit in order to provide constitutional safeguard to Assamese people and to protect the language, literature and the political rights of the Assamese people.