AJYCP Warns of Threat to Assam's Indigenous Communities Ahead of Elections

GUWAHATI: With Assam's Legislative Assembly elections on the horizon, a prominent youth organisation has raised fresh concerns about what it sees as a growing threat to the state's indigenous communities — and is pointing the finger squarely at the ruling BJP.

The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) president Palash Changmai and General Secretary Bijon Bayan issued a press release on Wednesday, warning that the upcoming polls carry "ominous signals" for the indigenous people of Assam. 

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The AJYCP leaders alleged that rather than safeguarding the linguistic, cultural, social, economic, and political rights of indigenous communities, the BJP government has pursued a strategy of religious polarization and appeasement of outsiders to hold on to power.

The statement reflects long-standing frustrations within Assam's indigenous rights movement, which has repeatedly called for concrete protections against demographic and cultural change in the state.

Since its founding, the AJYCP has championed the implementation of an Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in Assam — a mechanism the organisation believes would shield indigenous communities from political, economic, and cultural encroachment by migrants and outsiders.

That demand, however, remains unmet. And according to the AJYCP, the situation took a significant step backward in 2019.

The organisation alleged that the BJP-led Central Government, rather than introducing the ILP system, scrapped even the partial protections that existed in Assam — doing so through an ordinance to pave the way for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

"Such actions of the Central Government have established that it is more accountable to foreign outsiders and migrants than to the indigenous communities of Assam," the press release stated.

The AJYCP played an active role in the widespread anti-CAA protests that swept across Assam, mobilising democratic movements with support from various civil society organisations and the general public.

The Council reiterated its firm opposition to what it describes as the settlement of foreign nationals in Assam on the basis of religion under the CAA — a law that remains deeply contested in the state.

In the aftermath of the anti-CAA movement, the AJYCP backed efforts to channel indigenous rights activism into formal political representation.

The Council credited both the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and the AJYCP itself with playing a significant role in the formation of the regional party Asom Gana Parishad — established with the stated goal of advancing a nationalist political ideology rooted in the protection of indigenous Assamese communities.

The organisation also expressed appreciation for Lurinjyoti Gogoi, former General Secretary of AASU, for leading the party and what it called "a healthy nationalist ideology with democratic values without compromise."