Jailed activist Akhil Gogoi seeks donations to contest Assam assembly polls
In a letter addressed to voters in Sivasagar and rest of Assam, Gogoi, who is under arrest since December 2019 for his role in the violent anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in the state, said that he wants to be the voice of the people in the Assam assembly.
A day after withdrawing candidature from one of the two seats he was planning on contesting for the coming assembly polls in Assam, jailed activist and president of Raijor Dal, Akhil Gogoi, on Friday appealed to people seeking donations to contest the polls.
In a letter addressed to voters in Sivasagar and rest of Assam, Gogoi, who is under arrest since December 2019 for his role in the violent anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in the state, said that he wants to be the voice of the people in the Assam assembly.
“I want to be the spokesperson for people of Assam in the assembly and protest against anti-people steps taken by the government. I want to ensure the Assam government and elected representatives don’t get bullied by those in Delhi,” said the letter read out by the party’s working president Bhasco De Saikia.
Gogoi had earlier planned on contesting two seats-Sivasagar and Mariani. But on Thursday, he announced that he won’t be contesting from Mariani as the party didn’t want division of anti-Bharatiya Janata Party votes. The Mariani seat is at present represented by Congress’s Rupjyoti Kurmi.
“I seek love and support of the people of Sivasagar and request them to help me win this poll battle. A candidate is allowed to spend ₹30 lakh as election expense. But since I am jailed and I don’t have any savings, I appeal to the people of Assam to offer monetary donations,” Gogoi said in his letter.
He promised to work for betterment of people of Sivasagar, create employment avenues for at least one member of each family in the constituency, clean drinking water to all houses and fields etc.
Earlier Gogoi had filed his nomination papers for both the Sivasagar and Mariani seats from the Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) where he is admitted at present.
In his affidavit filed along with his nomination papers, Gogoi had mentioned that he doesn’t have any immovable assets and has ₹60,497 in his bank account. His wife has ₹18.72 lakh in her bank account and has assets worth ₹30 lakh.
In Sivasagar, Gogoi would be competing against BJP’s Surobhi Rajkumari and Congress’s Subhamitra Gogoi. There are three other candidates in the fray from the seat.
Raijor Dal was formed last year by the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), a farmers’ rights body headed by Gogoi which had played a key role in the anti-CAA protests.
The party is contesting the election in alliance with the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), another new party formed by All Assam Students Union (AASU) and Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), two student bodies that had spearheaded the anti-CAA protests.
The AJP-Raijor Dal alliance has remained equidistant from the ruling BJP-led coalition as well as the seven party grand alliance of Congress and given voters in the state a third alternative.
