Medha Patkar and Sandeep Pandey are Govt’s “Dalal”: AASU Leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi

Guwahati, February 20, 2020:

The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has lashed out at social activists Medha Patkar and Sandeep Pandey in response to the duo’s statement that the apex student body was conducting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) Andolans in association with the state government.

AASU General Secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi has tagged the social activists as the “dalal” meaning broker or middlemen. “Their statements have proved that they have spoken on behalf of some person. They have made the statements as the agents or dalal. They have proved that they are associated with the government.”

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Their divisive statements are proof enough to establish the fact that they are speaking on behalf of the government, he added. It needs mention here that social activists Medha Patkar and Sandeep Pandey, who had arrived in Guwahati to take stock of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi in Central Jail had made statements that, according to some, “tarnished” the image of the AASU.

The duo said that AASU had carried out the CAA Andolans with certain mutual interests with the government. According to the two, AASU had links with the government and conducted the protests on the government’s directives.

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Responding to the statements, Lurinjyoti said, “They don’t have the clue as to how the Assamese had agitated and staged the Andolans in order to protect the culture, the language. Medha Patkar and Sandeep Pandey were not in Assam’s side when the six-year long agitation took place. Therefore, they don’t have the right to teach the Assamese how to do the Andolans. People of Assam are very much aware regarding the situation.”

The leader further warned the duo on behalf of AASU to refrain from making statements in a state where they have no knowledge of Assam. “The public has learnt very well as to who is working from the Jail and that too by being the government’s agent. The two have proved to the public that they are linked to the government very clearly yesterday.”

Gogoi reiterated that AASU’s guardian is the public of Assam. “No ‘imported’ leader can be our guardian or our well-wisher here,” he said.

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