Headlines       Vol. 1 Issue 34-35

Jan 22-Feb 6 , 1999

AJYCP to expand its reach in Barak Valley The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP) has decided to branch out to the State's Bengali-dominated Barak valley. “We are going there with an open mind. For a long time now, the Barak Valley has been treated as a vote bank and nothing more. Unless a strong apolitical group raises its voice against this injustice, the situation will remain the same. Hence, our entry has become essential at this juncture,” AJYCP general secretary Apurba Kumar Bhattacharyya said. Blaming political parties, especially the Congress for the alienation of the people in the valley, Mr. Bhattacharyya said, having remained in power for a long time in Assam, the Congress was to be blamed for the present situation. The AJYCP wants to bridge the gap between the two valleys, he claimed. "We want to prove that though the two valleys are geographically apart, the people are united." Denying that the AJYCP's decision to make an entry into the Barak Valley was aimed at countering the demands for statehood, the general secretary of the organisation claimed that setting up of Silchar unit was in no way connected to this. He emphasised that even in 1986 when there was tension in Karimganj following police firing, the organisation visited the valley and elicited a positive response from the people. He said that the AJYCP had been trying since then to set up a full-fledged unit in the valley and the organisation was now fully prepared for this purpose. Appealing to the youths of the valley to join the organisation in large numbers, Mr. Bhattacharyya said that they have noticed that when it came to employment in tea gardens, local youth were always ignored. He promised not to allow all this when the AJYCP unit starts functioning in the Barak Valley. He said the AJYCP would also fight for the removal of bottlenecks in the transport sector. The AJYCP recently organised a two-day training camp for more than 200 youth who sat for banking recruitment examinations in Silchar. Earlier such courses were only organised in Guwahati.

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