After Nagaland boost, now BJP plans yatras in Assam

Upbeat after making inroads in the predominantly Christian Nagaland in the recent Assembly polls, the BJP is planning and making serious eff...

Upbeat after making inroads in the predominantly Christian Nagaland in the recent Assembly polls, the BJP is planning and making serious efforts to consolidate its base in the North-East.

Come March 25, and it will launch four yatras from the four corners of Assam. The yatras will converge in Guwahati on April 6, the foundation day of the BJP, to be followed by a large public meeting on April 7 that will be addressed by party president M. Venkaiah Naidu.

Since the yatras must have some stated objective, the BJP has seized upon the sensitive foreigners’ issue for the purpose.

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BJP vice-president Pyarelal Khandelwal, who is in charge of N-E said here that the party would highlight three demands in the course of yatras — firm steps to stop infiltration from Bangladesh along with an identification and deportation of infiltrators, scrapping of the outdated Illegal Migrants’ Detection Act (IMDT) and an effective action to smash the ISI network in the region.

Khandelwal said four senior leaders had been asked to flag off the yatras. Joel Oram will go to Sadia to see off the yatra led by state BJP president Rajan Gohain, while C.P. Thakur will flag off the yatra led by BJP legislature party leader Vimlendu Roy and former Union minister Kavindra Purkayasth from the Karimganj. Union Minister of State Bijoya Chakraborty will lead the third yatra from Dhubri. The fourth yatra will be flagged off by Union Minister of State Sangh Priya Gautam.