Cult, legacy and politics in Assam

There are more chances of the song of “Politics nokoribu, Bandhu” being played by a losing alliance, while the “Mayabini” tune is already having its heyday and would be played and replayed to invoke and involve the youngsters. A Bengali song to corner the votes of Bengalis in Assam, a Hindi hymn to entice the expatriates from northern India, and a “Ya Ali” tune to lure and allure the Muslim voters might be the itinerary as we advance towards the political ceremony, ritual and festival in Assam  – Prof. Mahmood Ansari, Assam University

Come 2026, and an election to choose the representatives of the people in the Legislative Assembly would be about to knock at the door in Assam. Taking a topsy-turvy turn, it looks like Assam politics is seemingly entering into disarray, and it is creating a facade of being chaotic at the surface.

Never before has the politics revolved around a cultural icon to arouse the passion of the voters, and that too after his sudden tragic demise. Zubeen Garg is a cult figure now. Gravitating towards the instant emotive theme of the departed soul, a slugfest has ensued in the political realm. His death has become more controversial than his life.

The outcome is visible. In the political corridor, the plank of welfare and development is getting thin attendance. For a month or so that has gone by, the political rhetoric has gone astray into exploiting the benefits of personality cults. Day in and day out, the sustained efforts at airing the controversies on the natural death versus the probability of a conspiracy of murder of the legendary musician-turned-singer are principal events that are being reported in the media. A battle of statements over the statement by the leaders of two mainstream national political parties has been catching the ears of the partisan voters in the making.

The agenda is evolving. The day-to-day verbal contestation amongst the leaders of political parties is a gloomy reminder of the preparation already completed to enter the electioneering arena. As the revered festival of the Assembly election is approaching, the political manoeuvring to appropriate the legacy and expropriate the select songs and select speech bites of the singer is expected to be devised and coordinated in real earnest. The claims and counterclaims to the legacy have already begun. All these hara-kiri would be for the purpose of arousing the finer sentiments and emotions of the voters, in the name of Assamese honour and pride. The Assamese identity and honour do matter, and rather genuinely so, even in the normal times. Contemporaneously, it is, however, election time. Persuading to lead and mislead the voters to choose a political party is going to be the order of the days ahead, till the last date in the voting booth!

As the plank of economic growth and development gets a backseat, the demand for a probe into the death of an Assamese heartthrob and cultural icon by a central agency is assuming the centre stage. The aspiration and demand are genuine but are also being used as a ploy to send the message to the voting public in advance – the message of untrustworthiness of the present regime. The interrogative remarks are being made even by the regional parties that have already jumped into the fray, for such regional and local players do find no reason to be content anymore with a smaller share in the piece of a political cake. All in all, there is going to be rather a complex equation evolving amongst the contesting parties as the time passes. More often than not, their past baggage would frequently clash with some isolated radical opinions, satirical media bites, interview pieces and speeches of the legendary music icon.

Remember! Zubeen Garg, who passed away recently, was famous not merely as a cultural heartthrob but also as a personification of civil society resistance, political defiance and socialist radical thinking. In all probability, it would not be easy for any party to fully and completely usurp the legacy of the philanthropist and the political rebel that the deceased soul was in the perception of a considerable number of people in Assam.

While the opposition Congress leaders, having nothing to showcase by virtue of being out of power, are harping to draw the attention of citizens to the presumed failures of the police and investigative agency, the ruling party supremo keeps on defending everything with appeals to the common sense, sensibilities, and idioms of hero worship. The cataloguing and enumeration of the proactive deeds in honour of the musician has already begun, and the press conference is the medium of dissemination every day to enumerate what we are doing and what they have done.

All attempts are presently geared towards the upcoming preparations to link such an emotive and sentimental issue as the death of an icon to the strategy of influencing the voters. In the political passageway, the citizens are vanishing in the thin air, and the voters are coming in through the thick door. The ruling party has an edge over here and would continue to have one in the days to come. In all probability, a major strategy should presumably consist in sending as many accused behind bars as warranted under the law of the land. The confiscation of the properties of accused ones might also be another, so as to keep the emotive appeal and content of actions alive. The opposition Congress and the regional parties would expectedly have to resort to no other option than playing victimhood as a major endeavour to win support of the floating voters.

Given the legacy of secular credentials, socialist leanings and endorsement of a variety of languages in the songs of the deceased music icon, all parties would, however, increasingly find, to their respective dismay and disappointment, the futility of the planks of communalism, linguistic parochialism and social engineering in cornering the votes. As the political space of manoeuvring in appropriating the select part of the cultural legacy might keep on shrinking for a specific party, the restlessness could magnify. The tactical moves of each party would then unfailingly go through the considerable alterations in the matter of the interpretation and reinterpretation of the cultural bequest and legacy itself. 

There are more chances of the song of “Politics nokoribu, Bandhu” being played by a losing alliance, while the “Mayabini” tune is already having its heyday and would be played and replayed to invoke and involve the youngsters. A Bengali song to corner the votes of Bengalis in Assam, a Hindi hymn to entice the expatriates from northern India, and a “Ya Ali” tune to lure and allure the Muslim voters might be the itinerary as we advance towards the political ceremony, ritual and festival in Assam.