BJP slams Assam Nagarik Sanmilan as ‘Cong escort service’, accuses group of hosting urban naxals in Assam

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 26, 2025

The BJP on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Assam Nagarik Sanmilan, led by intellectuals Dr. Hiren Gohain, MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, Dr. Apurba Kumar Baruah and Paresh Malakar, accusing it of functioning as an “escort service” for the Congress party and providing platforms to what it called “Urban Naxal” elements imported from outside the state.

Addressing the press at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bhawan in Guwahati, Assam BJP spokesperson Ranjib Kumar Sharma alleged that the Assam Nagarik Sanmilan routinely organises seminars and press meets to amplify the voices of Congress-backed activists and intellectuals who specialise in divisive and anti-national rhetoric. “Whenever Congress is politically and socially cornered, this so-called Citizens’ Society rushes to its rescue. People of Assam have now seen through their real face and begun to treat them with contempt,” Sharma said.

He accused the group of rolling out the red carpet for figures like Syeda Hameed, Harsh Mander, Prashant Bhushan, Wajahat Habibullah, Jawhar Sircar and Rana Ayyub—personalities he described as Congress loyalists who were rewarded with posts, privileges and awards during the UPA era. Sharma claimed many of them were linked to NGOs that misused crores of rupees under Congress governments, and that their bitterness grew after the Modi government cancelled registrations of several such organisations and stopped foreign funding.

According to the BJP, Congress is deliberately flying such individuals into Assam and using the Citizens’ Society to provide them a platform for “anti-Assam rhetoric.” Sharma alleged that the group’s activities are aimed at creating social unrest and disturbing peace in the state at a time when Assam is moving ahead with development.

“The BJP Assam Pradesh strongly condemns these activities of the Citizens’ Society, which are nothing but an extension of the Congress–Urban Naxal nexus aimed at sabotaging Assam’s progress,” Sharma said. BJP spokesperson Dr. Zafreen Mehjabin was also present at the press interaction.