AASU activists stage a demonstration in front of the NF Railways head office at Maligaon in Guwahati on Thursday, demanding cent per cent reservation in railway jobs in grades III and IV category for the state. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Nov. 20: Members of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) today laid siege to the Northeast Frontier Railway headquarters at Maligaon to protest its “biased” recruitment policy, which it identified as the root cause of the unrest leading to the attacks on Bihari migrants.

Thousands of AASU members squatted on the roads in front of the NF Railway headquarters, blocking traffic in the area for several hours. They raised slogans in support of the demand for 100 per cent reservation of grade III and IV railway jobs in the state for resident candidates.

AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya, general secretary Amiyo Kumar Bhuyan and other leaders declared that the agitation over the recruitment policy would be intensified. The student organisation is planning demonstrations in all district and sub-divisional headquarters on November 24.

An all-party meeting convened by the AASU this afternoon backed the agitation and resolved to send a delegation to New Delhi to draw Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s attention to the twin demands for reservation of jobs and security to railway passengers from the state.

Representatives of the AGP, BJP, CPI, United Minorities Front, Autonomous State Demand Committee, Purbanchaliya Lok Parishad, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) and Revolutionary Communist Party of India attended the meeting. Leaders of the ruling Congress and state unit of the CPM were, however, conspicuous by their absence.

The AGP had steered clear of an all-party meeting convened by chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday. The party later claimed it was not invited to participate in the discussions.

The AASU-convened meeting demanded the resignation of the Congress government, saying it had lost the moral right to remain in power after failing to prevent the outbreak of violence in the aftermath of the attacks on rail passengers passing through Bihar.

Speakers at the meeting accused the Dibrugarh superintendent of police S. N. Singh of making provocative statements and demanded that he be placed under suspension.

The leaders of all the parties represented at the meeting stressed the need to convey the message that the movement for reservation of jobs was not a campaign against Biharis or any other community.

In a statement, former chief minister and AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta demanded a probe into the violence in Assam and Bihar by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.