Tinsukia, Aug. 23: From Srimanta Xankardeb to Bir Lachit Borphukan, from Bir Raghav Moran to Gopinath Bordoloi, Assam is a land of legends. Why does the BJP government, both at the Centre and state, want to impose the name of Deendayal Upadhyay - who has nothing to do with Assam - on the people of the state?

This is what two organisations, the All Moran Students Union and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad, raised at a news conference in Tinsukia today. The Tai Ahom Yuva Parishad also protested the move.

The leaders of the organisations strongly opposed the Assam government's decision to set up a number of new model colleges and name them after Jan Sangh leader Deendayal Upadhyay, saying "any such move will not go down well with the people of Assam". Central president of AMSU, Arunjyoti Moran, said, "We demand a rollback of the decision. We will not allow this to happen."

"During election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal used the names of legends of Assam in every speech to strike a chord for votes," said Moran. "Today, after coming to power they have forgotten the local heroes and local sentiments."

Tinsukia district president of AJYCP Surajit Moran said, "If the government forcefully goes ahead in naming the colleges after Upadhyay, we will be forced to rename the model colleges."

"We will replace the signboards," he warned. "Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma are playing into the hands of the RSS, to remain in their good books and for greed of power."

The nomenclature of model colleges of the state in the name of Deendayal Upadhyay had topped the agenda of the recently concluded executive meeting of the BJP at Duliajan in neighbouring Dibrugarh district.

The Assam government's decision had already triggered massive protests in the state.

The leaders also opposed the move to amalgamate Oil India Limited and Indian Oil Corporation. They have called for a public meeting on August 31 where they will finalise the strategy against the government's move.