Silchar, Aug. 2: The state unit president of a madarsa union, peeved with the All Assam Students Union for its oust-migrant campaign, has issued a fatwa against All Assam Students Union adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya’s entry into Hailakandi to attend the organisation’s annual conference on August 9.
Saleh Ahmed Mazumdar, president of the state unit of the All Asom Madrassa Students Union, said at Hailakandi last night that the AASU should first spell out its stand on the migrants’ issue. If it is found satisfactory, only then would Bhattacharyya be allowed to visit Hailakandi and Karimganj districts in Barak Valley.
Bhattacharyya is scheduled to visit the two districts for the third annual conference of the Hailakandi district unit of the AASU, to be held at the district headquarters next Thursday.
The Madrassa Union is miffed with the AASU and particularly Bhattacharyya after the student body drove out hundreds of people of the minority community from the hill states, branding them illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The union, in turn, branded Bhattacharyya an “undesirable element”.
The union has declared that these religious and linguistic minority people were bonafide Indian citizens, who had settled in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram to earn a living.
Mazumdar hoped that Bhattacharyya would abide by his diktat for the sake of peace in the Barak Valley. Dubbing Bhattacharyya the “enemy of the linguistic minorities in the state”, he said the AASU was responsible for the scrapping of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act.
Mazumdar regretted that the AASU was only busy in raking up “flimsy issues” and not interested in either improving the standard of education in the state or looking into appointment of schoolteachers.
The AASU’s Hailakandi unit, however, is going ahead with its preparations to hold the annual session.
The Madrassa Union has also appealed to the district administration of Hailakandi and Karimganj districts to help make its embargo on Bhattacharyya’s visit “effective”.
Hailakandi police said necessary steps would be taken to maintain law and order during the AASU adviser’s proposed visit to the district.
