New Delhi: Jailed Assam activist Akhil Gogoi, also the chief of the Raijor Dol, is all set to win the Sibsagar assembly constituency where he is leading against the BJP’s Surabhi Rajkonwari.
The 46-year-old Gogoi contested his maiden elections as an Independent and didn’t campaign as he has been in jail since 2019.
Gogoi was one the most prominent faces of the state’s anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, in which five protesters were killed in alleged police firing.
The former chief of the farm workers’ organisation, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), is known for his fiery speeches, and strong criticism of the government. He has been rallying for land rights of farmers and against construction of dams among others.
Gogoi was arrested during the anti-CAA protests and has been in jail since December 2019. He was booked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on charges of sedition and under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, UAPA.
Since 2017, Gogoi has been booked twice for sedition by the Assam Police and has been arrested multiple times during both the Congress and BJP regimes in the state.
His 85-year old mother Priyada, other family members along with Raijor Dol workers and KMSS activists had campaigned on his behalf.
“Akhil has not been with me for one and a half years. The government has held my son captive for no reason; they couldn’t even give any evidence. The mothers, brothers and sisters of Assam are his own, like his family…They have really given me strength; they shed tears for my son,” she told ThePrint last month.
As of 8.05 pm, Gogoi was ahead of Rajkonwari by 5,764 votes.
Parties formed on anti-CAA sentiments
The Raijor Dol had joined hands with the Lurinjyoti Gogoi-led Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) to run on the common plank of opposing the CAA.
AJP’s star candidate, former All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi, looks set to lose both seats he has contested. He is in third place in both Duliajan and Naharkatia assembly seats.
In October 2020, Gogoi’s Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), along with 70 indigenous groups and a regional party, the ‘Sanjukta Anchalik Dal, Asom’, formed ‘Raijor Dal’ (People’s Party), which was launched on Gandhi Jayanti.
The Assam Jatiya Parishad was also formed last year by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and the Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), two prominent student bodies that had participated in the anti-CAA protests.
While AJP had fielded 85 candidates for the three phases, Raijor Dol had announced 37 candidates. Apart from Gogoi, none of the others are winning.
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