GUWAHATI: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has got its students’ wing.
The party, which is a constituent of Assam’s three-party ruling coalition, formed its students’ wing ‘Asom Chhatra Parishad’ (ACP) on Thursday.
AGP president and the state’s Agriculture Minister Atul Bora said the reason behind the ACP’s formation was to draw the youth towards regional politics.
“We felt the need to form the students’ wing to mobilise the youth of the state towards regionalism and regional politics in larger interest of the state,” he told journalists after launching the ACP at a programme here.
Bora said it was not a decision taken overnight. He said the party leaders and workers had discussed it for a long time.
Most AGP leaders once served the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU). In fact, the AGP was born out of the six-year-long bloody anti-immigrants’ agitation (Assam Agitation) of early 1980s. Former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and also the incumbent, Sarbananda Sonowal, are former leaders of the AASU.
“Every political party has a students’ wing. The Asom Chhatra Parishad will help the AGP,” party leader Manoj Saikia said.
The AGP ruled Assam twice (1985-90 and 1996-2001). In terms of its performance in the 2016 Assam elections, the party stands third after BJP and Congress.