Student's union demand constitutional safeguards for people of Assam

A student organisation in Assam, All Assam Students Union (AASU), organised a protest to demand constitutional safeguards for the people of the state.

A leader of AASU, Simanta Goswami, said the protesters have given a document stating their demands to representatives of all the major political parties in Assam.

"The All Assam Students Union has given a document of demands to all the political parties in which we have clearly stated that we need some constitutional safeguards for people of our state at any cost. We have told all the parties to clearly state their position on this issue, and also implement new policies to meet our demands", said Goswami.

Several members of the AASU took out a rally to the residence of the state Governor, Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, demanding constitutional safeguard on a number of issues such as land rights of the people, protecting the interests of the tribes, identifying illegal foreigners in the region and sealing the nearby border with Bangladesh.

Goswami further warned the political parties of total boycott if they failed to meet their demands.

"If the political parties don't agree to these demands, we will boycott them and never accept them in future. We don't have any other option as the people are facing an existential threat here," added Goswami.

According to students of the Union, the people of Assam have been fighting for such issues since 1970s, but they are still pending due to government's negligence.

The groups blame the government of plundering the region's significant mineral and agricultural resources and ignoring demands for greater autonomy and greater economic opportunities.