SIVASAGAR: Social Activist Medha Patkar alerting the people of Assam said if the Bhartiya Janata Party BJP retains power in the state, it will be devastating for the people of Assam as there will be no rights left for them.
She further appealed to the people of Assam to vote for jailed anti-CAA (Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019) activist Akhil Gogoi.
Earlier on Wednesday, extending her support to Raijor Dal candidate Akhil Gogoi, Patkar campaigned for him in Sivasagar from where he will be contesting for the upcoming elections. She was joined by Gogoi's mother, along with party members and its alliance party Asom Jatiya Parishad AJP. Thousands of supporters including intellectuals, activists and students thronged the streets showing their support to the peasant leader.
The Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, Patkar on Thursday claimed that people's democratic rights will be curtailed if the BJP returns to power in Assam. She further alleged that the BJP is only working for top-notch industrialists and not for the common people.
She said that Gogoi has worked for the rights of the people, hence he was put behind the bars. Moreover, she also alleged that Gogoi has been languishing in jail because he raised his voice against corruption and minister like Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Patkar also claimed that post Gogoi's incarceration all anti-people activities have resumed. "After Gogoi was put behind the bars, the closed toll gates were reopened, construction of big dams began and several more such "anti-people" work resumed," she said.
While alerting the people of Assam, she said that five more years to the BJP government will be devastating for the people.
Speaking about the land rights she mentioned that Gogoi has been fighting for the land rights of poor farmers in Assam. However, "This Assembly election is a fight between those selling farmers' lands and those protecting them," she added.
The Sivasagar Constituency will be going to polls on March 27, Gogoi is contesting the election from judicial custody with an aim to oust the BJP. He will be fighting the assembly elections against BJP's Surabhi Rajkumar and Congress' Subhramitra Gogoi.