All Assam Students' Union or AASU is a Assamese nationalist students' organisation in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is best known for leading the six-year

Assam Movement The Assam Movement (also Anti-Foreigners Agitation) (1979–1985) was a popular uprising in Assam, India, that demanded the Government of India to detect, disenfranchise and deport illegal aliens. Led by All Assam Students Union (AASU) and All ...

against

Bengalis Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the ...

of both Indian and Bangladeshi origin living in Assam. The leadership, after the historic

Assam Accord The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement. It was signed in the presence of the then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi on 15 Au ...

of 1985,

History

In 1940, a student union named ''Asom Chattra Sanmilan'' (Assam Students' Association) divided into the All Assam Student Federation and the All Assam Students' Congress. A decade later the two recombined as the All Assam Students' Association, which was later renamed All Assam Students' Union in January 1967. In August 1967, the Union "established itself as a formal organisation and adopted its Constitution".

Assam agitation

AASU began intensifying the agitational programme against inclusion of illegal immigrants in the voter list and started facilitating the participation of all section of people. As part of the preparations for the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

election, the Chief Electoral Officer EChad asked Assam to include all names from the earlier voter list in the draft electoral roll. AASU warned the political parties not to take part in the election unless the electoral rolls were revised and the names of illegal immigrants removed. AASU formed the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad in August 1979 consisting of AASU, Assam Sahitya Sabha, Purbanchaliya Lok Parishad. The Jatiyatabadi Dal, Asom Yubak Samaj and Young Lawyers Forum also joined the Gana Parisha later on. AASU started observing massive satyagraha on the lines of India freedom struggle. Thousands courted arrest daily. The movement continued for six years. It became violent at some point of time, massive in almost all the times during the six years. The most important part of the movement was that the movement got massive mass support from almost all segments of the society except from the ruling government and a few others who would benefit from illegal Bangladeshis' votes. AASU declared different times that the agitation was against all illegal foreigners irrespective of religion or community. AASU continuously had been informing the central government with direct communication to the Prime Minister that the influx from Bangladesh had posed serious threat to the existence of the indigenous people of the state of Assam and the entire North Eastern region and changed the demography of the region.

Assam Accord

Finally the central government signed the historic

in 1985 to resolve the matter. The agitation ended and AGP won the election to the state Legislative Assembly and its leader became the chief minister of the state. Under the Assam Accord, a person who came to Assam from

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

after 1951 and before 1971 was given citizenship. The Assam Accord stated in clause 6 that while giving citizenship to immigrants, constitutional protection will be given to original citizens of Assam.The Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983 (IMDT Act) was enacted by the Parliament of India in 1983 . This Act was struck down by the Supreme Court of India in 2005. Known as the IMDT Act (1983) it described the procedures to detect illegal immigrants (from Bangladesh) and expel them from Assam. The Act was pushed through mainly on the grounds that it provided special protections against undue harassment to the "minorities" that were affected by the Assam Agitation. It was applicable to state of Assam only whereas in other states, detection of foreigners is done under

The Foreigners Act, 1946 The Foreigners Act, 1946 is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Imperial Legislative Assembly enacted to grant the certain powers to the Interim Government of India in matters of Alien (law), foreigners in India. The Act was enacted before India bec ...

Citizenship Amendment Bill

The students' union stated that it opposes the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill stating that it is unconstitutional. The Lok Sabha on 9th Dec 2019 passed the bill for Citizenship (Amendment) 2019 with 311 votes in favour and 80 against. The

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

on 11th Dec 2019 passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, with 125 votes in favour and 99 against. Following the passage of the bill and as a result of its stir against it, the students' union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) came together to launch a new regional political party, Assam Jaitya Parishad in September 2020 to contest the

2021 Assam Legislative Assembly election The 2021 Assam Legislative Assembly election was the 15th quinquennial State legislative assemblies of India, legislative assembly election held in the Indian state of Assam from March 27 to April 6 in three phases, to elect 126 Member of the L ...

References

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