Perfume baron likely to be 'kingmaker' in Assam

Ajmal was then indeed the least-known public face in Assam, but Gogoi’s reply also reflected the reluctance of the political class to take the newcomer seriously.

But, six years later, it is Ajmal’s turn to return the jibe to Gogoi. And he does it amid thunderous applause in a rally in Goalpara in western Assam: “Now I want to ask: Who is Tarun Gogoi?”

Ajmal, who made millions in the family’s perfume business, still heads his party, now known as All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and recognised as a ‘state party’.
The 61-year-old is now emerging as a ‘kingmaker’ in poll-bound Assam. “There cannot be a Government in Assam without the AIUDF after the election,” says the kurta-pyjama clad chubby Maulana, as he seeks votes for Monowar Hussain, the AIUDF’s candidate in Goalpara East.

The AIUDF was born after the Supreme Court in 2005 scrapped the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act. The influential All Assam Students’ Union and political parties like Asom Gana Parishad and Bhartiya Janata Party had blamed the IM (DT) Act for hindering detection of illegal Bangladeshis in Assam. But Assam’s Bengali-speaking Muslims, who are often generally branded as Bangladeshis, had perceived the legislation as a safeguard for them against undue harassment.

Muslim organisations led by Jamiat Ulema e Hind – Ajmal then headed its unit in the State – slammed the Congress Government for not seriously defending the IM (DT) Act. They floated the UDF to give the State’s Muslims – the ‘deciding factor’ in at least 53 of the total 126 constituencies – a political alternative to the Congress.

The party contested 69 seats in 2006 assembly polls and made a huge dent in the Muslim vote-bank of the Congress. It won 10 seats, securing 9.03 per cent votes. Its vote share went up to 11.19 per cent in 2009 parliamentary polls, when Ajmal was elected to the Lok Sabha.

The AIUDF is now trying to expand its support base beyond the Muslim dominated areas and targeted other communities, like the tea-plantation workers – another loyal vote-bank of the Congress.

“Ours is a secular party, not a party of the Muslims. We speak for all marginalised sections of the society, irrespective of their religious identities,” said Ajmal, who did his masters in Islamic Theology and Arabic from Darul Uloom in Deoband. Thirty-three of the AIUDF’s 80 candidates are non-Muslims.

Gogoi, who is believed to have engineered Ajmal’s recent ouster from the JuEH, has so far been averse to any truck between Congress and AIUDF. But the AIUDF’s rising stock seems to have prompted him to soften his stand and keep options open for a post-poll deal with Ajmal.

The perfume baron is keeping his card close to his chest though.
“We are against both the Congress and BJP. We cannot go with the BJP. We can support only a secular party or a secular group. Congress is not the only secular party,” says the AIUDF supremo.

But can the AIUDF go with the AGP, which most Bengali-speaking Muslims of Assam hold responsible for doubts about their citizenship status? “We will decide after the poll-results are out,” said Maulana, before boarding the chopper to fly to the venue of the next rally.