ASSAM- All-Assam Students Union Crisis of Identity

ASSAM All-Assam Students' Union: Crisis of Identity Udayon Misra ONE of the very first moves of the All- Assam Students' Union, immediately after the Asom Gana Parishad was voted into office, was to deny that the student body was a wing of the newly formed regional party. The AASU's championing of the AGP's cause during the 1985 elections had eroded its credibility as an independent 'non- political' organisation. However, the AASU's involvement in the polls was sought to be justified on the ground that the elections were a virtual extension of the six-year old Assam Movement and, once the forces conducting the anti-foreigner upsurge were voted to power, the AASU would resume its independent role. Thus, AASU leaders have, time and again, been asserting the independent status of their organisation and have cautioned the AGP government not to take AASU's support for granted. In its effort to distance itself from the ruling party in the state, the AASU adopted programmes aimed at mobilising public opinion on the slow implementation of the Assam Accord, the continuance of the centre's 'colonial' policy towards Assam, and against the abnormal rise in the prices of essential commodities.