If Akhil Gogoi is a terrorist, all Indians are terrorists: Yogendra Yadav

GUWAHATI: Prominent activist Yogendra Yadav, condemning the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Assam government for the imprisonment of Akhil Gogoi, said that if "Gogoi is a terrorist, every Indian is an activist."

 

Yadav, who visited Gogoi today ahead of the polls in the state, further alleged that Akhil has been kept behind bars in order to keep him off public view during the Assembly election.

 

Yadav and Samajwadi Party leader Sunilam visited the jailed leader, also the president of the newly-floated Raijor Dal, at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital on Sunday to enquire about his health. Gogoi will contest the forthcoming election from the Sivasagar Constituency.

 

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The rights activist said that people who should be in jail are roaming free while a few who should be free are rotting in jails.

 

Akhil Gogoi’s is not a criminal trial, Yadav added, adding that it is a "political trial" planned well ahead in order to prevent him from reaching out to the masses.

 

“His trial is also the trial of India’s judiciary,” he said, adding that he extended his moral support to Gogoi who has been in jail since December 2019.

 

Charges against Gogoi include sedition and inciting violence during the movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

 

The Raijor Dal on Saturday released the list of 18 candidates that the party will field in the first two phases of the forthcoming Assembly polls. The newly-floated party's president Gogoi will contest from Sivasagar in the first phase.

 

Initially, Gogoi proposed all the opposition parties to field one common candidate against every BJP nominee, to defeat the BJP.

 

He also offered not to contest the election and to unite the opposition against the BJP in the upcoming Assam Assembly Election 2021.