Guwahati, August 12 (IANS): Much before the 26 opposition parties forged the INDIA alliance, the Congress in Assam was successful in bringing together 12 parties to form a unified opposition forum to take on the BJP’s fierce election machinery in the state under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The joint opposition forum included Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dol, former All Assam Students Union (AASU) leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi’s Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), and others.
But it lacks a prominent player in Assam politics -- All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).
Initially, the Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were also not given a place in the opposition forum.
But after the annoucement of the INDIA bloc, the situation changed to a great extent and both Trinamool Congress and AAP are now constituents of the joint opposition forum.
But, Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF is still yet to be included.
Assam has a good number of Muslim voters with more than 30 per cent of the people in the state belonging to the minority community.
The role of AIUDF is important in the political landscape of Assam.
Since its founding in 2005, the party has played a significant role in Assam politics. It won 18 seats in the 2011 Assembly election, making them the main opposition party in the state. The number of seats decreased to 13 in 2016, although the AIUDF managed to gain 16 seats in the 2021 Assembly elections.
Later, after leaving the party, one of its MLAs was re-elected on a BJP ticket.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the AIUDF took three of Assam's 14 MP seats. In the general elections of 2019, the vote tally dropped, and only Ajmal was able to capture the party stronghold of Dhubri.
To oust the BJP from power in Assam, the Congress and AIUDF had formed a broad coalition ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. The combination secured more than 40 members in the 126-member Legislative Assembly, but it fell short of the required majority.
After a snag in Rajya Sabha elections over cross-voting in favor of a BJP candidate, the relationship between the two parties further deteriorated, and Congress rejected the alliance.
Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah has been adamant in not taking the AIUDF along with them.
“We forged an alliance with Ajmal’s party in the last Assembly polsl. But what we could see was that AIUDF leaders were constantly delivering a series of provocative statements that, in turn, helped the BJP consolidate Hindu votes”, Borah said.
“The saffron camp was trying their best to do polarisation, however, they had looked to be a failure in achieving their target. It was AIUDF leaders’ statements that tremendously aided the BJP to swing the result in their favour.”
Meanwhile, the AIUDF has claimed a number of times that the fight against the BJP would fail if they are not included in the alliance.
AIUDF general secretary Aminul Islam said: “At present, Assam has nearly 40 per cent of the Muslim population. Congress has lost its base among many communities. So, they want to bank on the Muslim votes. But minority people have full faith in Badruddin Ajmal and they will vote for the AIUDF only.”
Reacting to this, senior Congress MLA Debabrata Saikia said: “The AIUDF leaders are misleading the people. They cannot win any seats in the 2024 general elections.”
Although Assam Congress has been trying to undermine Ajmal, the fact is that among the Muslim voters, AIUDF still holds a good grip.
Moreover, in half a dozen seats, Muslim votes would play an important role in determining the winner.
It is pretty evident that any division in the minority votes would help the BJP to increase their tally. Therefore, the exclusion of AIUDF from “INDIA” is undoubtedly an advantage to the saffron camp.
