GUWAHATI: The All Assam Students' Union (Aasu), a signatory of the Assam Accord more than three decades back, has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to come up with a solution to Assam's vexed problem of illegal immigrants. The most influential students' body in the northeast has now demanded a tripartite meeting with the Centre and the state to discuss the issue of illegal immigrants."The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 with the then Prime Minister (Rajiv Gandhi) present on the occasion. We now want a tripartite meeting with the Centre and the state, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Aasu chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya said. "BJP national president Amit Shah has said in Rajya Sabha though Rajiv Gandhi signed the Assam Accord in 1985, Congress did not have the courage to update the NRC. BJP has finally done it. We now ask PM Modi to show this same kind of courage and implement the Assam Accord," he added.Pointing out that the last tripartite meeting on the issue was with PM Manmohan Singh in 2005, he said, "That was when the decision to update the NRC was taken. Before that, VP Singh had held a meeting during which the decision to set up Tezpur central university was taken." The latest tripartite meeting on the issue was held in 2017 but Rajnath Singh, and not the Prime Minister, was present for the occasion.Aasu had spearheaded the six-year-long movement against illegal infiltrators in the state which led to the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985. The protests strengthened the student body's political fortunes as they went on to form government after the movement.Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who was the Aasu president during the movement, went on to became the chief minister for two terms. Present chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal of BJP had been the Aasu president from 1992 to 1999. Apart from them, several ministers of the BJP-led government in the state, such as agriculture minister and president of AGP Atul Borah and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma , were all Aasu leaders in the past.Also referring to PM Modi's poll promise of deporting illegal immigrants, Bhattacharya said that has never truly materialized in the state. "Modi promised that after May 16 (2016), all illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam will have to pack their bags and leave. But that has not happened because the Prime Minister never mentioned the date when they would be sent back," Bhattacharya said.

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