Cong-AIUDF pact in Assam to be game-changer to check BJP

With preparations for the 2021 Assembly polls gaining momentum in Assam, former chief minister Tarun Gogoi has started trying to stitch together a new political alliance between the Assam Congress and the All India United Democratic (AIUDF), along with the Left, that may emerge as a formidable combine to check the saffron party’s surge Assam.

However, the foundation of this alliance was laid during the last Rajya Sabha elections, when Mr Gogoi walked hand in hand with AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal to ensure the victory of journalist Ajit Kumar Bhuyan for the Rajya Sabha. Mr Bhuyan won, along with two others supported by the ruling BJP-led alliance.

Now, the CongressAIUDF alliance for the coming state elections

◗ BJP insiders indicate that the party is uncomfortable over the proposed alliance as it may end the division within the antiBJP votebank

early next year is almost finalised and is likely to be officially announced soon.

The formation can give rise to a polarisation of votes, besides containing the division of anti-BJP votes in the state.

The U-turn by Mr Gogoi, a three-time former Assam CM, from remarks like “Who is Ajmal?”, “AIUDF is a communal party” and calling the AIUDF a “B-team” of the BJP, has come as surprise to many, but a large section of political observers consider the veteran Congress leader’s move a masterstroke to regain the party foothold in minority votebanks, which the Congress had started losing to the

AIUDF. A section of Assam Congress leaders, however, still believe that in a state that is still fragmented over raging identity issues, any alliance with the AIUDF might be seen as communally polarising, and thus help the BJP.

Perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal had floated the AIUDF in 2005, and since then it has strengthened its hold among minorities.

The AIUDF, in its first election in 2006, captured a large support base among Muslims of Bengali descent, and won 10 seats out of 126, becoming a force to reckon with.

Justifying the need for an alliance, AIUDF general secretary Aminul Islam said: “We have to forget the differences of the past, and work to secure the future of the Assamese people and Assam through a common minimum programme. We are hoping that the Akhil Gogoi-led Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, the Left parties, and the new front launched by newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Bhuyan, will come with us.” Mr Gogoi’s alliance plans are backed by Assam PCC chief Ripun Bora, who said: “The AIUDF believes in the Assam Accord and supports its implementation. The AIUDF is against the CAA. They are not communal, they are not antiHindu, but the Bharatiya Janata Party is antiMuslim. Of course, they are working for the community they represent, and that is not a crime. Assam’s problem is not the AIUDF; its problem is misrule by the BJP, and we will fight to end this misrule.