To everyone’s surprise, Asom Jaitya Parishad (AJP), which is committed to fight tooth and nail to scrap the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, has decided to field five candidates in Barak Valley.

The AJP on Sunday evening announced its second list of candidates for 50 constituencies, including five candidates from Barak Valley.

The party, which is committed to protect ‘political rights’ of the indigenous people of Assam, it would field candidates in Patharkandi, Dhalai, Udarbond, Lakhipur and Kathigora.  

The announcement of five candidates from Barak Valley by AJP has come as a surprise for a lot of political analysts in Assam, as majority of the Bengali Hindu electorates in the three South Assam districts are in favour of CAA.

Of the five seats in Barak Valley, the AJP has fielded three Muslims at Patherkandi, Udarbond and Lakhipur.

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At Dhalai, the AJP has fielded one Adivasi candidate, Ram Ratan Dushad. And at Kathigora, the party has put up Sadhan Babu Sinha, a Bishnupriya Manipuri candidate.

It is obvious that the five AJP candidates in Barak Valley are also going to embark on campaigning, which will revolve around anti-CAA rhetoric.   

It would be interesting to note as to how the Bengali-Hindu electorates in the five constituencies are going to respond to AJP’s anti-CAA campaign in Barak Valley, and how much support the candidates manage to garner.

While the BJP is going to campaign on pro-CAA outline in Barak Valley, the Congress in the three Bengali-majority districts of South Assam is also in favour of CAA.

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On the other hand, the Congress in Assamese-majority Brahmaputra Valley, are opposed to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.    

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