Akhil Gogoi Jailed by Govt to Hurt Anti-CAA Movement, Says Yogendra Yadav

Guwahati, February 13, 2020:

Swaraj Party leader Yogendra Yadav has arrived in Guwahati to meet the incarcerated peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, who was jailed during the nationwide protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

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Gogoi was nabbed by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) from Jorhat on December 16 amid the violent agitation against the CAA in Assam which left as many as 5 protesters dead. Alleged links to maoists was cited as the cause behind his arrest, and he became perhaps the first person to be booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Speaking to mediapersons in Guwahati, Yadav said, "I have known him for 10 years...a revolutionary nation-lover like him who has fought for the people, for the farmers, alsways stood against corruption."

Yadav also opined that the andolan against the CAA will not die down anytime soon even though the voice of a powerful dissenter like Akhil Gogoi has been silenced, for the time being.

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According to reports, Yadav has taken a permit from the NIA to visit his friend in the jail and the two will meet on Friday.

Yogendra Yadav is an Indian activist, psephologist and academic whose primary interests are in the political and social sciences. He has been a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi since 2004.

Yadav is a former member of University Grants Commission (UGC) and National Advisory Council on Right to Education Act (NAC-RTE) constituted by Ministry of Human Resources and Development, Govt of India, in 2010. He was a member of the National Executive of the Aam Aadmi Party until 2015.

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