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politics

t was understood and ishad (AGP) won 14 seats and
well taken that the Con- BPF got 12 legislators in the
State assembly. Assam being
gress would join hands
with the All India United the second-largest Muslim in-
I Democratic Front habitated State in the country,
no political party can ignore
(AIUDF) someday in Assam the minority voters. But both
as both the political par-
ties continued pursuing the the Congress and AIUDF
interest of minority people. remain more dependants on
the minority vote shares and
Political observers may argue hence they seemingly would
that their alliance becomes a
necessity to prevent the ag- not take another risk of going
alone in the forthcoming
gression of Bharatiya Janata State Assembly polls sched-
Party (BJP) in northeast India, Congress and AIUDF uled for early 2021.
but in reality it is nothing but The changing tune of
their survival strategy in the Gogoi’s voice says here eve-
complex political landscape come close in Assam rything. He admits that the
of the region. situation has changed and he
Issues related to Congress-
AIUDF friendship suddenly wants an alliance with Ajmal
led AIUDF (so that the sizable
became talks of the people Both parties have come out in support of Ajit Muslim votes are not divided).
as both the parties came out Kumar Bhuyan, an independent candidate for Three-time chief minister
supporting an independent Rajya Sabha from the State, reports nava thakuria Gogoi went ahead arguing
candidate for Rajya Sabha that the BJP is a greater evil
from the State. Within a few and to prevent the party
days of poll-preparedness, and AIUDF decided to contest Ajmal repeated his call of al- from pursuing their com-
senior Assamese journalist the election in Bodoland liance prior to 2016 State As- munal and divisive politics,
Ajit Kumar Bhuyan emerged Territorial Council (BTC) with sembly elections too, but once the Congress should go for an
as a consensus candidate mutual understandings. The again Gogoi prevented it. alliance with the AIUDF.
for both the parties. By now, Congress wanted to put can- Founded by Maulana Ajmal He also emphasized on
Bhuyan along with BJP candi- didates in 13 constituencies in October 2005 soon after electoral alliances with the
date Bhubaneswar Kalita and and the AIUDF was supposed the Supreme Court scrapped CPI, CPI-M and other ethnic
the saffron party’s ally Bodo- to fight for seven seats. But the illegal migrants determi- outfits for the forthcoming
land People’s Front (BPF) the BTC poll, scheduled for 4 nation by tribunals (IMDT) act polls. The veteran Congress
nominee Biswajit Daimary April 2020, was postponed with a pledge to protect the leader opined that the pro-
were declared elected unop- because of the corona virus interest of Bangladeshi Mus- test-demonstrations against
posed to the upper house of outbreak in the country. lim infiltrators, the AIUDF the Citizenship Amendment
Parliament. Contrary to it, BJP leaders remains active in Assam. The Act 2019 (CAA) across the
Bhuyan played an impor- decided to field candidates in party won 18 seats in 2011 As-
tant role in organizing people all 40 seats avoiding its ally sembly polls. Presently it has region paved the way for a
greater alliance against the
against the Centre’s much BPF, which has been ruling 13 legislators in the 126-mem- BJP. Ajmal, in one of his recent
debated citizenship amend- the council since 2005. ber State assembly and one comments, stated that the
ment act 2019 (CAA) which Friendship calls to the member (Ajmal himself) in alliance with the Congress
witnessed a massive public Congress were always Lok Sabha. would remain forever.
outrage in the Brahmaputra initiated by the AIUDF chief Enriched with the sup- Meanwhile, BJP gen-
valley even though it had lit- Badruddin Ajmal, a perfume port bases of Bangladesh eral secretary Ram Madhav
tle impact in the Barak valley. baron tuned politician, but it origin immigrants, the slammed the Congress for
Assamese speaking groups was veteran Congress leader AIUDF performed relatively forging an unholy alliance
came to the streets raising Tarun Gogoi who opposed it. well in western Assam and with the AIUDF saying that
voices against the initiative Even after Parliamentarian some parts of Barak valley. It the oldest party in the coun-
to grant Indian citizenships Ajmal supported the Con- emerged as the third largest try remains clueless about its
to Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, gress-led United Progressive party in the legislative assem- direction to move on.
Christian and Parsi migrants Alliance (UPA) government bly winning 14 seats after the
from Afghanistan, Pakistan in New Delhi, the then State BJP (60) and the Congress (23). The author is a northeast India
and Bangladesh. chief minister Gogoi contin- The saffron party’s two based journalist
Lately both the Congress ued opposing the alliance. allies namely Asom Gana Par-
letters@tehelka.com

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