By Rabindra Nath Sinha
KOLKATA: Assam’s chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is leading the NDA for the forthcoming Assembly elections on April 9, may have succeeded in prevailing upon Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), BJP’s steadfast ally, into fielding 50 per cent of its candidates from the minority community. Most of those seats represent the outcome of delimitation and have very significant muslim concentration. Himanta has also succeeded in causing defection from the Congress of some prominent faces who changed their jersey along with some of their followers.
But, the chief minister, known for his political clout and ability to crush intra-party dissentions, is facing opposition from a respected civil society organisation that functions under the name and style of Assam Nagorik Sanmilani, enhancing whose credentials are prominent figures who include, among others, veteran academician Hiren Gohain and an ex-IPS officer Harekrishna Deka. And then, there is the issue of the death of Zubin Garg, Assam’s much admired music icon, who had a pan-India appeal. The controversy over his death in Singapore on September 19, 2025 refuses to die down, much to Himanta’s embarrassment.
Under the seat-sharing deal thrust down AGP president Atul Bora’s throat, the regional outfit can put up candidates on 26 constituencies. The state has a 126-member House and after BJP, which has appropriated to itself 89 seats, AGP accounts for the second highest number of seats. In 13 of the 26 constituencies, Bora has been made to accept minority nominees. Himanta has deftly exploited the outcome of delimitation that led to the rearrangement and almost all of the 13 constituencies happen to have a visible minority concentration. In the 2021 Assembly elections too AGP had fought in 26 constituencies and could win nine seats which, according to Assam politics watchers, was a pointer to its declining influence.
The chief minister seems to have realised a second objective : the BJP list does not have, as usual, any muslim face ; an issue that the national Opposition has been highlighting vociferously for a long time. He can now point out that if not BJP directly, the NDA seat-sharing has accommodated minority candidates. Bora, has been allowed to contest from his old Bokakhat constituency in Golaghat district. A few other AGP leaders have been renominated from their earlier seats which have not been delimitation casualties. The AGP chief naturally has faced party workers’ disenchantment as what the chief minister forced him to accept has also meant the sidelining of important AGP politicians who would have qualified for tickets in the normal course.
A point also noteworthy is that the high proportion of muslim faces in the AGP list easily is next only to the candidates that are in the fray on the tickets of predominantly communal and muslim-dominated All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) led by perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal, a former Lok Sabha member, who is a candidate for the April 9 battle from central Assam’s Binnakandi seat in Cachar district. AIUDF is putting up candidates in 27 seats, against 20 in 2021 and out of which it was victorious in 16 seats. Practically all of its candidates naturally belong to the minority segment.
The irony in the case is too conspicuous to be missed. They regional party, that is a product of fierce six-year Assam movement led by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AGSP) and which was formally launched at the Golaghat convention in mid-October 1985 following the well-known Assam Accord signed on August 15, 1985, still has as its core agenda of detecting and deporting illegal immigrants and thereby protect the socio-cultural, economic and political identity of the Assamese people. The reference, it goes without saying, is to the Bangladeshi muslims, described repeatedly by Himanta since February 12 ‘miya muslims’. Union home minister Amit Shah in the meetings he has addressed so far in Assam fervently pleaded for BJP being given one more chance for driving out of Assam all ‘ghuspetias’. Ground realities unmistakably suggest AGP is now a decimated version of its original avtar.
The chief minister’s forte in engineering defections is proverbial and which party would be a better target than the Congress. Among the defectors, mention has to be made of Lok Sabha member Pradyot Bordoloi [he resigned on Wednesday, March 25] and former PCC president Bhupen Borah. There are several others. For Himanta, the urge to weaken the Congress is very strong this time because the Congress-led coalition is piloted by Jorhat Lok Sabha member of deputy LoP Gaurav Gogoi, who was appointed PCC chief a few months back and who enjoys a clean image. In Assam Assembly elections 2026, it has evolved as a fight between Himanta and Gaurav ; the latter has been able to a great extent to energise party workers. Gaurav has said that his fight is not only with the chief minister but also within his own party, where there are people with doubtful political integrity and who are too wiling to jump the ship. “But, I am not going to be cowed down and our alliance will put up a strong fight to dethrone the BJP-led ministry”, he has said.
While the Congress-headed coalition is posing a challenge, adding to the chief minister’s concerns is the very recent outburst of Assam Nagorik Sanmilani, which has emphatically demanded that the opposition unity must generate an “anti-BJP verdict”. The divisive politics of BJP “has hollowed out the Assamese identity from within”. The BJP-led ministry has handed over vital natural resources to multinationals over the last 10 years, according published reports. Neither BJP nor the chief minister has reacted so far.
In a judgement on Wednesday, March 25, Singapore’s state coroner Adam Nakhoda said Zubin Garg “drowned accidentally and he found no reason to disagree with the Police Coast Guard’s findings about the nature of his death”. Before this, the Singapore General Hospital had cited drowning as the reason for Zubin’s death on September 19 last year.
It appears Himanta himself has invited trouble for himself on this count. Referring to Singapore coroner’s report, he tried to take credit saying the assessment and chargesheet filed by SIT of Assam Police were similar. But in November 2025 he had said that Zubin had been murdered. Gaurav lost no time in hitting out at him saying that the coroner’s ruling has challenged the chief minister’s murder theory; “the verdict is a gift for those accused of killing” the music icon. (IPA Service)
