GUWAHATI: Ahead of the upcoming Assam Legislative Assembly Elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ramped up membership drives across the state. On Monday, the party welcomed new leaders who joined the saffron party in its Hengrabari office premises.
The membership drive on Monday included most of the former All Assam Students Union (AASU) leaders. It also included a former senior member of AASU named Pradip Das. Along with him, Rahul Das, former Golaghat Students Union leader Parikhit Dutta, and other leaders of the apex student union have joined the saffron ranks.
Ranjeet Dass, BJP Assam State President has said that the move can be seen as an indication of youth taking interest in the saffron party and its ideologies. "We see people talking about regional and youth politics. These youths joining the BJP is an indication that the youth of Assam are with the Bharatiya Janata Party," added Dass.
The BJP insiders have specifically used the term "former AASU" while welcoming them.
However, the AASU top brass has refuted the claims made by the BJP. G Plus spoke to AASU General Secretary (GS) Shankar Jyoti Barua who stated that, "It is wrong to use the tag of former AASU." The AASU GS is of the view that few former leaders have resorted to opportunistic politics.
"We are here to serve the land and if we use this AASU tag to join any parties that that's just opportunism," Barua said.
"The so-called young leader who has joined the BJP is no longer young. We all know he is about 60," added Shankar Jyoti Barua.
The AASU GS informed G Plus that the student union has planned to raise various issues ahead of the elections including the floods, construction of dams, and price hikes.