AASU''s anti-CAA agitation has understanding with govt :

Social activist Sandeep Pandey and rights activist Medha Patkar on Wednesday alleged that the anti-CAA agitation by All Assam Students' Union(AASU) is being carried out in "understanding" with the state government, which does not allow freedom of expression and speech.

Pandey alleged that there was a "deep conspiracy" by the BJP-led government in Assam behind the arrest of peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, who has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

He said that during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls only KMSS led by Gogoi was campaigning against the BJP, while the students union was completely silent.

"When I came last time in December 2018, the anti- Citizenship Amendment Bill movement was being led by Akhil Gogoi's Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti(KMSS) and 70 other groups.

AASU was nowhere in the picture.

"After Akhil's arrest, AASU suddenly came into the picture and now they are leading it. We see a conspiracy here ... The agitation by AASU is being carried out in an understanding with the government," Pandey, a Magsaysay winner, said.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill was enacted by Parliament on December 11, 2019.

Pandey said, "The government allows only those agitations which do not threaten it. After AASU came into the picture, its leaders had said there would be protests only in the fields instead of on the roads and there would be none after 5 pm. Is it a government programme or a peoples' movement?"