All is not well with the 12 opposition parties’ bloc in Assam as tension has begun to mount over Akhil Gogoi, Sivasagar MLA and chief of Raijor Dol placing an open demand for a Lok Sabha seat for his party.
Gogoi, who was earlier jailed for his alleged role in anti-CAA protest, and was slapped with stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, contested the last Assembly election from prison and won the Sivasagar seat. He was later released on bail and his case is now being heard in the Supreme Court.
Akhil Gogoi, an ardent critic of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, rose to the limelight a decade ago when he was an RTI activist, he floated a party named Raijor Dol just before the 2021 Assembly election in the state, however, all candidates of the party except Gogoi lost the polls.
Much before the opposition bloc INDIA formed, the Congress party in Assam was successful in bringing together at least 12 opposition parties under a single umbrella. The joint opposition forum included Left parties, Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dol, former All Assam Students Union (AASU) leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi’s Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), and others. But the joint forum lacks a prominent player in Assam politics — All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were also not given a place in the opposition forum.
Following the announcement of INDIA alliance, the situation has changed to a great extent and both TMC and AAP are now constituents of the opposition alliance. But, Badruddin Ajmal’s party AIUDF is still kept out of the alliance.
Meanwhile, Akhil Gogoi said, “Our party holds good ground support in the upper Assam area. We demand the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat be given to Raijor Dol. I am keen to contest from there.”
Following his statement, an uneasy situation prevails in the opposition alliance with many Congress leaders openly criticizing Gogoi’s move.
Talking to IANS on Sunday, Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah said, “Whether it is Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal or Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi — each and all top leaders are ready to sacrifice their seat share for ousting BJP from power. The same is applicable in Assam too. We all have to sacrifice our minds rather than shun our own personal ambition.”
He asserted that the seat-sharing talks have not started yet and it is not good for anybody to demand a Lok Sabha ticket in the current situation.
Debabrata Saikia, the opposition leader in the Assam Assembly told IANS, “We will sit together and discuss the best possible combination to combat the BJP.”
Meanwhile, Assam Congress working president Kamalakhya De Purkayastha made strong comments about Akhil Gogoi on Sunday.
“Akhil Gogoi’s party was not included in the original INDIA alliance. Here as a local party we have kept them in alliance. Therefore, he should not have directly sought candidature like this. It is the responsibility of the High Command to decide who will be a candidate for which place. His comments should be retracted,” Purkayastha told IANS.
However, Zakir Hussain Sikder, another working president of the grand old party said, “Anyone can claim to be a candidate. It is natural to say so. Akhil, however, did not say that he would quit the opposition alliance if he did not contest from the Jorhat seat. So, I think it is not right to criticize him now.”
On the other hand, the President of AJP, Lurinjyoti Gogoi said, “There have been preliminary talks between the alliance leaders about who will be the candidate for which seat. The rest will be seen later.”
The AIUDF, which is a strong force in the Assam political spectrum, its party leaders have already claimed that keeping them out of alliance would damage the fight against the BJP. At this juncture, fresh tension in the opposition bloc may weaken the fight against the saffron party’s fierce election machinery in the state.
