BJP’s Problems in Assam

BJP’s Problems in Assam

The BJP’s emergence in India as the most prominent political party (after the marginalization of the Congress) has not come about without the expected share of problems. One of them has been the very culture of political parties in power. It is very well even for political parties to have a culture of their own. This will depend on a party’s ideology and its openness about accepting other political parties and its ability to respect their ideologies and manner of functioning in the event of having to form coalitions. And this is beginning to happen quite often these days. The culture of a political party in respect of its functioning just as a political party and in relating to other political parties is bound to be quite different from its culture when it has to function as a ruling party. This has been one of the major problems of the BJP that its leaders are often unable to appreciate. This is a problem that the BJP will have to face for quite some time in all the States of India where it has come to power (in some of them for the first time). It is a culture that will evolve through time, but one that must also be shaped by the top brass of the party as expeditiously as possible. Perhaps the most fundamental difference between the political culture of a party that has not been in power and one that has recently come to power virtually right across the country is that it will have to acquire a much greater level of tolerance and liberalism than it has been used to in the past. It cannot afford to play around with the word secular and to be content with mere rituals. This is one of the major problems being faced by the BJP all over the country. It is a political party not much used to tolerance of divergent views. In some of the Indian States that have a dominant Hindu majority, the BJP is unlikely to face much difficulty. The monolithic character of such States has been a major advantage for the BJP. But there are smaller States in India that are also monolithic in character as far as religion is concerned but not in the way that the BJP might approve of. We have States like Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland that are monolithic as far as religion is concerned. They are monolithic Christian States. These are States where the BJP is likely to feel somewhat uncomfortable, because the Hindutva ‘magic’ cannot be expected to work in them. And there are heterogenous States like Assam with a mixed population that are quite a bit different from many of the mainland States of the country. In fact, the BJP’s ability not only to forge a majority but also to form the government in Assam with the AGP as ally came as a bit of a surprise to many. And in the world of politics, electoral success is somewhat like an epidemic, and earlier voting habits can change depending on the success of different political parties in other neighbouring States.

Coming to power in Assam with promises that it has failed to keep and having taken the AGP as an ally has created unexpected problems for the BJP. One of the BJP’s major pre-election promises was the implementation of the Assam Accord. It has done nothing about it. What is worse is its firm determination to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 despite the fact that Assam has already become the dumping ground of millions of illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Anyone should have been able to see that the granting of Indian citizenship to additional millions of Hindu migrants from Bangladesh is bound to wipe out Assam and the Assamese completely. Any political party that insists on pushing through a black law that goes completely against the people of a State merely because the Hindu migrants from Bangladesh who will get instant Indian citizenship will also vote en masse for the ruling party, is clearly anti-Assamese and pro-Bangladeshi merely for electoral benefits without considering what is good for India. As such, at a time when the BJP has called the AGP a “betrayer” for fighting the panchayat elections in Assam independently, it is reasonable to ask the BJP whether its alliance with the AGP was only in respect of the formation of the State government or whether it also extended to contesting panchayat elections in Assam unitedly. It is also perfectly in order to ask the BJP whether it has not betrayed the people of Assam in failing to implement the Assam Accord and whether it has not done them serious injustice by seeking to force the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 down their throats despite vehement State-wide protests. It is time someone reminded the BJP that a country must be seen in terms of its people and not just its geographical territory in terms of longitude and latitude. Political parties that learn to do this ahead of others stand a very good chance of becoming the favourite ones in the country.

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