Dhaka wishes Assam CM :: Weekly Blitz

The government of Bangladesh has expressed its best wishesfor the newly elected Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi. The BangladeshHigh Commissioner in New Delhi, Tariq Ahmad Karim while meeting Gogoi in Guwahati after his sworn in as the province government head for successive third time conveyed the goodwill message from the Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

"We expect more bilateral trade and trusted relationship between Bangladesh and India, particularly the Northeast region. More people to people contact is understood as a best mean to reduce the tension between the two nations," said Mr Karim after meeting the Congress chief minister. He was the first foreign diplomat to meet Gogoi and convey good wishes to him and the people of Assam.

Gogoi, 77, was administered oath of office and secrecy by the Assam Governor JB Patnaik at Raj Bhavan in Guwahati on May 18. A host of dignitaries including BK Handique (Development of North Eastern Region minister), Dr Mukul Sangma (Meghalaya chief minister), Madan Bhimarao Lokur (Gauhati High Court chief justice), Bhubaneswar Kalita (APCC chief), Chandan Bagchi (senior Congress leader), Hagrama Mohilary (BPF chief) with others were present in Darbar hall on the occasion.

"We will continue focusing on development programmes that help solving the problems of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy etc," said Gogoi, while talking to the media persons soon after the ceremony adding that his new thrust area would be the education, health and agricultural sectors.

Many political analysts believe that Gogoi's initiative for peace talks with leaders of United Liberation Front of Asom, National Democratic Front of Bodoland, Dima Halam Daoga helped the party in garnering votes. At least the majority of general population, who want a peaceful and decent livelihood, started reposing faith on Gogoi as a sensitive and pro-active leader of the State.

In fact the outcome of Assam election was astonishing. The massive win by the ruling Indian National Congress, which increased its tally up to 78 (out of 126 seats) in the State Legislative Assembly baffled the opposition leaders as well as political observer and media commentators. There was unanimous consideration that the Congress would emerge as the single largest party after May 13 counting day, but very few really had imagined that the party (with 53 MLAs in 12^th State Legislative Assembly) would be able to put such an outstanding show.

On the other hand, the main opposition party Asom Gana Parishad, which raised lot of voices against the State government for its involvement with the Rs 1,000 crore scam in NC Hills district, faced a humiliating defeat reducing its tally to ten. Similarly the Bharatiya Janata Party, which expected so much from Assam election, ended in a poor performance.

Nearly two crore electorates of the State exercised their franchises without any fear and open favouritism to any particular party. The overall percentage of two phase (April 4 and April 11) polling was recorded as high as 76 percent. Moreover no major political alliances were observed in the pre-poll scenario. Parties like the Congress, BJP and All India United Democratic Front contested the election without pre-poll allies. Only the AGP had pre-poll alliances with ethnic parties like Bodo People's Progressive Front, Gana Shakti and Autonomous State Demand Committee.

The BJP tried its best to garner support for their candidates in Assam. Even the party, for the first time, held its national executive at Guwahati in January 2011, where high profile leaders attended. In fact, the party president Nitin Gadkari started the poll campaigning for four States (Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and one union territory Puducherry from Guwahati. Later all the senior BJP leaders including LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, V Naidu, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Shahnawaz Hussain with chief ministers Narendra Modi, Arjun Munda and BS Yeddyurappa campaigned in Assam.

But yet the party performed very poor in Barak valley, which was identified as a BJP stronghold. The Bengali Hindu voters of the valley (around 20 per cent of Assam's 3 crore population) bordering Bangladesh slowly turned to the Congress (more precisely Tarun Gogoi) for the stability and development. The BJP continued winning in Barak valley in the last two Assembly polls (2001 and 2006), but this time the party drew a blank. The Congress candidates won 13 seats (out of 15) in the south Assam basin, where AGP and AIUDF shared the rest two seats.

The infighting among BJP leaders in Barak valley and also division of votes between the BJP and AGP paved way for success by the Congress candidates there. The BJP had finally won only five seats in the Brahmaputra valley. The State BJP president Ranjit Dutta too faced the defeat.

With many promises to the people, chief minister Gogoi also played the Hindu card cleverly during the campaigning, when he commented that the Hindu Bangladeshi migrants might be considered as refugees. Gogoi however stated clearly that the Muslim people migrating from Bangladesh must not get sympathy. The message was seemingly clear that Gogoi would never compromise with the interest of indigenous people.

The worst performance was showed by the AGP. Emerged out of the historic Assam agitation (1979 to 1985), the party came to power for two terms (1985 to 1990 and 1996 to 2001), but could not maintain its stand on the core issue of illegal Bangladeshis.

From 65 MLAs in 1985 Assembly election, the party started loosing its number of legislators in succeeding elections. This time the party could retain only 10 seats (it had 24 MLAs in 12th Assam Legislative Assembly), meaning the AGP has lost the status of main opposition party in the Assembly.

The president of AGP (CM Patowary) with many senior party leaders including Brindavon Goswami, Atul Bora, Kamala Kalita, Girin Baruah, Alaka Desai Sharma etc faced defeat. Only few senor AGP leaders like PK Mahanta, Phanibhushan Choudhury, Padma Hazarika, Keshab Mahanta etc maintained their wining spirit.

The Bodoland People's Front led by Hagrama Mohilary (which was ally with the ruling Congress) increased its number of MLAs to 12 (from 11 legislators last time). However the Left parties (Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist) failed to win a single seat in the polls. Last time the CPI had one and the CPI (M) had two MLAs in the Assembly. Contrary to it, All India Trinamool Congress could win a seat in the State.

The inspiring outcome was shown by the AIUDF, which has increased its tally up to 18 this time. In fact the party led by Badaruddin Ajmal won 10 seats in 2006 election, which was its debut electoral appearance. The AIUDF continued mesmerizing the sizable Bengali Muslim population of the State. The minority inclined party surfaced as the second largest party in the Assembly after the Congress.

The State (where Muslims contribute 30% of total electorate) has however increased the number of Muslim MLAs up to 28 (it was 25 in 2006 election) in the Assembly. Of course they represent various parties like the AIUDF, Congress and AGP. The elected prominent Muslim legislators may be named as Rockybul Hussain, Abdul Muhib Mazumder, Rekibuddin Ahmed (from Congress), Sahidul Alam Choudhury (AGP) with Sirajuddin Ajmal, Abdur Rahman Ajmal, Rafiqul Islam etc (AIUDF).

Related Topics: International News receive the latest by email: subscribe to weekly blitz's free mailing list

Dhaka wishes Assam CM

Comment on this item