Image Courtesy:thenortheasttoday.com
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi, who has been hounded by a right-wing proto-fascist regime and held behind bars after being implicated in a series of cases based on trumped-up charges, has reportedly gone on an indefinite hunger strike.
According to literary critic and social scientist Dr. Hiren Gohain, who is also the President of Coordination Committee of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) organizations, “Peasant leader Akhil Gogoi and three of his associates have gone on indefinite fast at Central Jail, Guwahati, in protest against primitive living conditions in jail and inhuman treatment of inmates. Poor inedible food, unhygienic housing and bedding, awful toilets, terrible congestion that turns social distancing into a farce, scornful neglect of illnesses suffered by inmates turn prison into hell. This is in complete defiance not only of modern ideas of prison management but also rules of old jail manuals.”
Gogoi and his fellow activists Dhaijya Konwar and Bittu Sonowal have been incarcerated under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) since December 2019. Earlier this month, KMSS leaders had condemned the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) effort to establish that they were guided by a Maoist ideology. They said that the chargesheet made against the KMSS leaders had no basis and only attributed charges based on books read and words like ‘Laal Salaam’ and ‘Comrade’ being used by them.
Dr. Gohain also told SabrangIndia, “Akhil has been behind bars for seven months as he is detained under one charge after another in spite of being granted bail in every case. The moment bail is granted in one case the police arrest him on yet another vacuous and trumped-up case. It is an open secret that he was among those whose role turned the anti-CAA movement into a vast surging tide of popular protest and resistance that rocked the BJP government in the state. One prominent demand of the opposition today, made through statements, protest-meetings and rallies, is to release Akhil and other political prisoners.”
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