ACKSA leader protests against CM Sonowal's claim over Assam University

Silchar: The All Cachar Karimganj Students Association (ACKSA) founder president, Pradip Dutta Roy has protested against Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal's claim that Assam University was "a fruit of the Assam Agitation".

The founder president, Roy, who is now a leading advocate at the Gauhati High Court, said that what CM Sonowal said was "the very opposite of reality."

He said that during Assam Agitation, many students from the Barak Valley suffered a lot of harassment, humiliation and intimidation when they went to Guwahati for higher studies. It was ACKSA, who fought for a decade after its inception in 1983, for a central university in the Barak Valley.

Although there was fierce opposition from the then Prafulla Mahanta-led Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) government in Assam, the Rajiv Gandhi-led government cleared for the setting up of a Central University in Silchar. The then BJP MP Bijoya Chakrabarty tore up the bill in Parliament to protest against the decision of the central government. He further said that the central university in Barak Valley was set up due to ACKSA's movement, not of the Assam Agitation.

Roy said that the AGP party could bring a central university to Tezpur, saying that "both valleys in Assam should get one central university." He said that indirectly, Tezpur University is also an indirect fruit of their movement.

He said that BJP MP Rajdeep Roy should have protested against CM Sonowal's claim, as his father, Bimalanghshu Roy played an active role during the ACKSA's protest for a central university in the Barak Valley.

Roy said, "But neither he nor other BJP MLAs, who know the genesis of our central university, did raise their voice against the chief minister's statement."

He further added that the CM might have been misguided, but the other local BJP leaders should not have taken this lying down.

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