Assam Elections
The campaign ended yesterday.
Mrinal Saikia carried out his campaign in a very simple yet eye-catching way. He neither organized big rallies nor tried to impress people with long lines of cars and bikes. Instead, he campaigned alone on a bicycle and said, “If you like me, vote for me; if you don’t, then don’t.”
How much confidence a leader must have to say something like that! Without speaking a single negative word, he remained a leader who truly followed the ideals of the BJP. While the BJP often claims to be a party of values, he was perhaps the only one who actually upheld those values.
Among others, the campaigns of Kunkhi Choudhury, Gyanashree, Lurinjyoti, and Gaurav Gogoi were also impressive. Their speeches had dignity and substance. The rest, however, mostly spoke irrelevant things, made strange promises, and focused on songs, dances, and superficial elements rather than real issues.
On the topic of beneficiary schemes, BJP and AGP campaigned heavily, but Gaurav Gogoi did the same and instead emphasized a self-reliant Assam, promising to provide even more than BJP. However, this kind of competitive promise-making cannot be considered healthy politics.
Hitendra Nath Goswami of Jorhat also seemed good initially, but later he became similar to the others. Lurinjyoti Gogoi appears to be a promising leader for the future.
This time, Rupjyoti Kurmi avoided his usual controversial statements to some extent, although he still spoke that way occasionally by nature. However, Himanta Biswa Sarma seemed to take that place. Such uncivil behavior was not seen in him before. This time, his language became quite harsh and inappropriate. As a senior politician and the Chief Minister of Assam, such language does not suit him. Eventually, I found myself scrolling past his speeches.
AGP appeared to have no clear agenda of its own and seemed to simply follow BJP’s decisions. Even after being in power for 10 years and seeking another term, their agenda remained the same—“a foreigner-free Assam” and implementation of the Assam Accord. If they couldn’t achieve it in 20 years of governance, how can they promise it again in 5 more years? No leader from the party stood out.
BJP, on the other hand, continued with themes like religion and flood-free Assam, while still blaming Congress even after ruling for 10 years. The Union Home Minister and the Prime Minister repeated the same statements they have been making since 2014—almost like replaying an old cassette.
Congress, meanwhile, seemed unable to choose the right issues. There were many important topics, but they failed to effectively take those issues to the people, except in some cases like Gyanashree, who demonstrated how it could be done and even compelled Rupjyoti Kurmi to respond. Akhil Gogoi remained the same—raising his voice loudly on every issue, but without strong substance.
Values—what do values really mean? I saw that only in Siddhartha Bhattacharya. For most others, power seemed to be their only identity, across all parties. In fact, one person even switched three parties in a single night.
Overall, the political atmosphere in Assam has changed. Listening to many leaders felt more like watching a comedy show. At times, it even resembled politics in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. And perhaps this trend will not change. It may not change at all.
