Promises by parties: People scared stiff

Do the leaders of various political parties that rule the roost in elections in Assam at all realize the mistakes they did in their past? Some parties in Assam often resolve to brainstorm into their past mistakes, especially when they get themselves detached from the people of the state. How genuine are such resolutions? After taking such resolutions they come to the people again with fresh assurances that they will not repeat their past mistakes. This issue assumes significance these days since a section of political parties in the state has adopted measures to look back their past mistakes and take corrective measures so as to make it to Dispur again.

Of late, the main Opposition party in the country, the Congress is going to review the mistakes it made in the past. There are media reports that All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi have asked the presidents of all the Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) of the country to identify their past mistakes and their corrective measures, and send their reports to the party high command within a stipulated time. The four–day brainstorming session of the Congress slated from January 20 in Guwahati under the aegis of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) is in accordance with the directive from the party high command. The brainstorming session, as APCC president Anjan Dutta said, will be attended by AICC general secretary and party’s Assam in–charge CP Joshi and Manikrao. The past mistakes of the Congress in Assam will be reviewed by 30 party leaders of the state PCC.

The AGP that lost the faith of the people of the State for its repeated wrong decisions openly discussed its past mistakes in an open convention recently. The likes of Homen Gohain, Hiren Gohain, Kaksen Deka and other front–ranking intellectuals of the state took part in the convention. The intellectuals and other speakers at the convention openly alysed as to how the AGP deceived the people of the state repeatedly, leading to the near collapse of the party that had been floated by the none other than the people of the State. The party’s new resolution is to do away with its past mistakes and go the people  of the state to woo them.

The AGP held its convention so as to get its mistakes rectified and the Congress is set to hold such a session now. Apparently these are all steps in the right direction. A pertinent question is: can the people of the state take such steps in their face value? Be it the Congress or the AGP, they are the ones which ruled the state for the past several decades. When in power, none of the two parties ever reviewed their mistakes. At least the people of the state never saw any such moves on the part of the two parties. The Congress is going to hold a brainstorming session in Assam as the party had to bite the dust in the last Lok Sabha elections against the upsurge of the BJP. The people of the State did identify the mistakes of the Congress and the AGP when they had been in power, only to be ignored by them outright. For over 13 years the people of Assam have been tolerating the laidback attitude of the Chief Minister while ignoring his and his government’s mistakes when they are pointed out. After remaining in power in many states in the country for the past one decade, why has the Congress faced such a plight now? The answer is as clear as day – corruption totally paralysed the administration in the country, the economy of the country was made to collapse, the value of rupee depreciated much and touched the dir, prices of commodities were beyond control, the government failed to provide any acceptable reason behind the uncertainty of market prices. All these did paint a vulgar picture of the future of the tion. What was more glaring was that though the power was apparently in the  hands of democratically elected parties, in reality, capitalists were controlling the administration. Taking the advantage of the weakness of those at the helm of affairs, the public exchequer was looted by an unscrupulous lot. The Congress had to pay the price of  that uncertainty on all fronts in the country created by itself. The party failed to read the very pulses of the people of the country when they had spontaneously supported An Hazare in his crusade against corruption. The party was rather in favour of suppressing the movement of Hazare through unfair means. The AGP, on the other hand, did get a chance to rule the state but soon got detached from the people when they started power–centric administration, leading to its defeat in 1991. It, however, made it to Dispur in 1996 with an assurance of not repeating its past mistakes. What they did in their last term is something which the people of the state have not yet forgot. In such a backdrop, the people of the state are simply scared of believing the promises being made by the AGP and the Congress.