KMSS, Assam to Launch Political Wing

News Desk

Peasant rights group Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) will soon launch a regional political party to contest the Assam elections early next year, the outfit said on 22 August, adding that its founder Akhil Gogoi will be the chief ministerial candidate.

Gogoi is currently in jail. He was booked by NIA on charges of sedition and under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly being an over ground worker of the banned CPI (Maoist). He and the KMSS had played a significant role in the anti-CAA protests in Assam in December last year.

The announcement comes just after the decision by Congress and AIUDF to enter into an alliance for the elections. It also comes at a time the influential student bodies, All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), have signalled the launch of a regional political party.

It is to be mentioned that Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) is a peasant organisation based in Assam. Formed by the RTI activist Akhil Gogoi in 2005, the organisation works on a diverse range of issues from Public Distribution System (PDS) thefts, non-implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), land rights, governmental and corporate corruption, Right to Information Act (RTI) and construction of big dams in fragile seismic territories of north east India. The organisation came to national lime light after it joined the agitation against corruption under the leadership of Gandhian activist Anna Hazare. However, KMSS broke with India Against Corruption campaign after some of the IAC members decided to form a political party. Explaining the reasons to resign from IAC, KMSS General Secretary Akhil Gogoi said that the support IAC had received was only for building up a strong and sustained mass movement against rampant corruption, and not floating an election-centred political party.