Back to BJP fold post-CAA, 'anti-foreigner' AGP faces litmus test in Assam Assembly elections

Political analyst believe that the AGP has completely lost its character

Retired teacher Tridip Hazarika has been a staunch supporter of the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) since its birth in 1985 following the six-year-long anti-foreigner movement. Hazarika voted for AGP in the 2016 Assembly polls also, when it formed an alliance with the BJP, despite knowing about the saffron party's promise of bringing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

"We are against the CAA as it seeks to give citizenship to the post-1971 Hindu Bengali migrants. Initially, we opposed the decision about the alliance with the BJP but still voted for AGP hoping that it would pull out of the government if BJP passes the Act," Hazarika told DH here at Barhampur in central Assam's Nagaon district, from where AGP's founder president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was elected six times between 1991 and 2016. Mahanta became Chief Minister twice in 1985 and 1996.

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AGP pulled out of the BJP-led government in Assam in January 2019, after the saffron party refused to step back on the CAA. Two months later, the regional party, surprisingly, was back to the alliance at a time the anti-CAA agitation was building up. Mahanta and a few MLAs opposed the decision but the party president and Agriculture Minister Atul Bora did not listen. "We are now convinced that no new foreigner will come to Assam. Also, people want the AGP to be in the government for development," Bora had said while defending the decision. AGP faced many brickbats during the anti-CAA agitation that followed soon and turned violent in December 2019.

This made AGP supporters like Hazarika angry and confused. "AGP was formed to fight the foreigner problem. But if we still stay with the BJP despite the CAA, where lies the ethos and the ideology on which the party was formed?" Hazarika asked. "Those who believe in pure regionalism will discard the AGP this time. This election will be a litmus test for AGP's survival," he said.

After leading the anti-foreigners movement or the Assam Agitation (1979-1985), Mahanta, who was the president of All Assam Students' Union signed the Assam Accord during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure as the Prime Minister in 1985. The Accord promised to detect the foreigners with March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date and delete (from voters list) and deport them to Bangladesh. But the CAA seeks to give citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan till 2014. This, according to the agitators, will dilute the Assam Accord and would threaten the identity of the ethnic communities in the state.

Hazarika's anger deepened further when the BJP "took away" Barhampur seat from Mahanta and fielded its candidate Jitu Goswami this time. This was done as Mahanta publicly opposed the CAA and was against the AGP's alliance with the BJP post-CAA. Mahanta decided not to contest the polls this time after the BJP denied tickets to him and at least three other sitting AGP MLAs, Brindaban Goswami (Tezpur), Utpal Dutta (Lakhimpur) and Satyabrat Kalita (Kamalpur), who are believed to be his loyalists.

The BJP is contesting in 92 of 126 Assembly seats and the AGP in 26 seats, while the United People's Party Liberal (UPPL), a new ally in the Bodoland region, in eight seats. The AGP won 14 seats in 2016.

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Political analyst, Harekrishna Deka, who was part of the anti-CAA agitation told DH that the AGP has completely lost its character. "A few leaders want to prolong their political careers but they are gasping for survival. The BJP is likely to jettison them much before the next election if it can ensure government on its own strength or with the assistance of UPPL. Regionalism is only a mask the present AGP leadership is wearing and soon they will subserve the BJP in the coming Assembly without having any bargaining point," Deka said.

Taking advantage of the situation, former general secretary of All Assam Students Union, Lurinjyoti Gogoi formed the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), a new anti-CAA party in September 2020. Fighting the CAA and the post-1971 migrants is the moto of AJP, almost similar to what the AGP did after its birth in 1985. The AJP is contesting 68 seats while it is supporting its ally Raijor Dal, another anti-CAA parties led by Akhil Gogoi in a few other seats.

On Wednesday, AGP released its manifesto in Guwahati, which talked about the implementation of the Assam Accord but did not say anything regarding the CAA.

Assam goes for polls in three phases on March 27, April 1 and April 6.