Guwahati: As top leaders of the influential All Assam Students' Union (AASU), Sarbananda Sonowal and Lurinjyoti Gogoi had led agitations in the past against the government for solving Assam's decades-long problem of foreigners.
Ahead of the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, however, both are seen standing on opposite sides in the state's fight against solving the same problem.
Sonowal, a Union Minister and former CM, has been fielded as BJP candidate in Dibrugarh, a Lok Sabha constituency dominated by ethnic communities while Lurinjyoti, founder of Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), a regional party, was on Friday named as the unanimous candidate of a forum of 16 opposition parties including the Congress.
"It's a fight for justice against the injustice BJP has committed by imposing the CAA on the indigenous people of Assam," Gogoi, 46, told reporters soon after his name was made public.
Sonowal, now 62, was the president of AASU between 1992 and 1999 before he joined regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and later switched to BJP in 2011. AGP is now an ally in the BJP-led government.
Sonowal became the CM in 2016, when BJP formed its first government in Assam by defeating Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government. Protecting the identity and culture of the indigenous Assamese was the main poll plank of Sonowal-led BJP. But Sonowal and BJP were slammed by AASU and a few other organisations for "imposing" CAA on the people in 2019.
Lurinjyoti, on the other hand, was the general secretary of AASU for five years, between 2015 and 2020 and had led the anti-CAA agitation when the CAA was passed in 2019. Gogoi founded the AJP amid the anti-CAA agitation and contested the Assembly elections in 2021 with CAA as its main poll plank. The party, however, did not win a seat. Gogoi too lost the elections in Duliajan, his home constituency and one of the Assembly constituencies under Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat.
Another Union Minister, Rameswar Teli was replaced by Sonowal in Dibrugarh this time while AJP decided to contest polls with the support of the Opposition parties, barring Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF.
Although the Opposition parties have once again decided to make CAA its main poll plank, particularly in Dibrugarh, BJP claims that Sonowal would get an "walk over" as the CAA is a "non-issue" for the people and they are happy with the development works of the saffron party since 2014. "Sonowal will win by a margin of three lakh to four lakh votes," confident Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, who replaced Sonowal as CM after the polls in 2021, told reporters on Friday. Sarma claims that CAA would make no impact against BJP and the party would win in 13 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats.
The Opposition parties, however, have targeted Sonowal and are calling him the "villain in BJP's plot to destroy the culture and identity of the Assamese."
"People of Assam looked up to Sonowal as their hero since his days in AASU. He was called a hero of the community when his petition in the Supreme Court led to scrapping of the pro-foreigner IMDT Act in 2005. But gradually he turned himself to be a traitor after joining BJP. He remained silent when BJP passed the CAA and gave away Assam's land to Bangladesh. He has proved himself to be a coward by remaining silent over the anti-Assam decisions taken by the Centre," MLA and another anti-CAA agitator, Akhil Gogoi told reporters on Friday.
Akhil represents Sivasagar, one of the Assembly seats under neighbouring Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency. Gogoi leads Raijor Dal, another regional party, which is also part of the forum of the Opposition parties in Assam.
The AASU, meanwhile, continues to lead the agitation against the CAA saying it would reduce the indigenous communities into minority by giving citizenship to a large number of Hindu migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. Interestingly, two other former presidents of AASU--Dipanka Kumar Nath and Shankar Prasad Ray joined BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls.