Akhil Gogoi demands free COVID-19 vaccines for all; pledges to be ‘uncompromising’ as MLA

GUWAHATI: Peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, who has been elected as MLA from Sibsagar constituency to be the first from Assam to win Assam assembly election from behind bars, today appealed the state government to ensure free COVID-19 vaccine to every single citizen living in Assam and vowed to continue with the demand over the next three months.

In an open letter addressed to the voters of Sibsagar, Gogoi also thanked the people of the constituency for electing him with their own efforts even without his physical presence at the constituency. “Electing me as your representative even without my physical presence among you, you have scripted a political history in Assam,” he stated.

Gogoi is lodged in Guwahati Central Jail since December 2019. He won the seat by a margin of over 11,700 votes in the results announced yesterday.

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In his letter, Gogoi appealed to the state government to take the COVID-19 pandemic as a priority task and take necessary measures to contain the situation. “As an MLA, I appeal to the government to make arrangements to hold vaccination camps at every panchayat and town so that not a single person in Assam is left unimmunised. If needed, steps may be taken to organise door-to-door inoculation programme,” he wrote in the letter.

Expressing “heartiest gratitude” to every single person involved in electing him as the representative from Sibsagar, Gogoi wrote: “I thank everybody, including every person in Assam as well as from different parts of the country, who campaigned for me and Raijor Dal. Despite all sorts of sops and threats and religious intolerance by the ruling parties, you have proved that Assamese people never lose their values and are still with the uncompromising revolutionary nationalism of the state.”

He made special mention about Guwahati-based intellectual Haider Hussain and lawyer Nekibur Zaman as well as the Bir Lachit Sena and other organisations for campaigning on his behalf in Sivasagar.

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Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patekar and farmers’ union leader Sandip Pandey, apart from youth and student leaders as well as a huge section of activists from across Assam also campaigned day in and out for Gogoi in Sivasagar.

On his part, Gogoi wrote a few open letters to the people of Assam which were enough to impress upon the voters of Sibsagar to elect him as their representative.

In the four-page hand written letter from jail, Gogoi pledged to continue with his uncompromising revolutionary attitude against every initiative of the government which could be against the interest of the people of Assam.

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“I promise to remain the spokesman of people of Assam as an MLA and I’ll not deviate from my commitment. This is just the beginning of a new revolution for us and we will go ahead without any compromise,” he wrote.

The firebrand leader has been vehemently opposed to big dams and toll gates on National Highways in Assam.

Expressing anguish over the loss of his fellow Raijor Dal canadidates, Gogoi also expressed his dismay over Assam Jatiya Parishad president Lurinjyoti Gogoi’s defeat in both constituencies (Duliajan and Naharkatiya).

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Promising to work with honesty, dedication and sincerity as an MLA, Gogoi said he dreams to give Sivasagar district a new look.