ITANAGAR, Jul 9: The legal department of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) will provide assistance to activist Akhil Gogoi and others of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti during his future bail hearings in the high court.
Chairman of the AICC’s legal department and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha, and former union minister Salman Khurshid will represent Gogoi.
The matter of providing assistance to Gogoi was taken up with Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi by leader of opposition Debabrata Saikia recently, in response to which the legal cell sent its confirmation to Saikia today.
Referring to the prolonged detention of Gogoi by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act as “blatant violation of fundamental rights,” Saikia appealed to the party’s high command to provide legal aid to Gogoi, at a time when there is wide speculation that Gogoi is infected with Covid-19 after being detained for over 200 days now.
Saikia highlighted the BJP’s political agenda behind keeping Gogoi in confinement by putting a volley of charges against him, especially after the anti-CAA movement gained ground across the state.
Saikia said that the BJP was targeting Gogoi “not only for his anti-CAA stand but also for constantly raising his voice against the BJP government’s anti-people policies in Assam.”
He said that the forced detention of Gogoi was also raised by the opposition during Assam’s assembly session in March.
