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GUWAHATI: PM Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah addressed a record 18 rallies in three months across Assam and projected BJP as the sole protector of Assam’s identity. But all that and many more visits from dozens of other central and state leaders did not quite help the saffron party to better its tally than the last election.
BJP had started the campaign for Assam with ‘Mission 100 plus’ seats.
This is the first time a non-Congress government is being formed for the second successive front in the state. Coincidentally, the second term of Congress under Tarun Gogoi in 2006 had also seen a reduced strength, below the halfway mark, which saw the entry of BPF into the post-poll alliance. Congress jumped back with absolute majority in its third term in 2011 on its own but kept BPF by its side.
BJP and its allies’ comfortable win in the complex state of Assam makes history it is the first non-Congress party to win back-to-back elections to the 126-seat assembly.
Assam, once seen as a Congress bastion, is bisected by the Brahmaputra which divides the land into the north bank and the south bank. The southern belt is also home to hill districts where local parties are significant contenders. There is also the Bengali-dominated Barak valley where BJP has long had influence. Barring a handful of constituencies, the saffron party retained much of the gains it had made in 2016. The dumping of its old ally, the Bodoland People’s Party of Hangrama Mohilary (which had earlier allied with Congress under Tarun Gogoi), late last year did not slow its advance to office.
Assam: Why Alliance With Badruddin Ajmal May Cost The Congress Dear
by Jaideep Mazumdar - Mar 17, 2021 10:25 AM
Badruddin Ajmal of the AIUDF.
Snapshot
The Congress apparently wanted to prevent the division of Muslim votes.
However, the alliance with AIUDF could result in indigenous Assamese communities moving away from the Congress, including Assamese Muslims.
The alliance struck by the Congress in Assam with the
A beleaguered Congress struck an alliance with the Islamist AIUDF â a party floated by
king
Maulana Badruddin Ajmal with the primary purpose of protecting the interests of Bangladeshi-origin Muslims in Assam â to stave off its imminent electoral decimation in the state.