What Alternative?

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has made it categorical that its chief priority right now is the sustenance of its strident opposition to the unconstitutional Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, and not any spadework for an alternative government formation at Dispur by it being part of a grand alliance opposed to the BJP ideology. The mastermind of this project is the Congress with its feelers being sent across the counter-BJP spectrum that time is ripe for a solid action towards realizing a BJP-minus coalition dispensation at Dispur. But a serious question springs us. And this is about any new government in a democracy being a better alternative to the previous and failed one if the latter has really failed. Therefore, even if one assumes that the Assam BJP has been failing its people since its 2016 inauguration in power, especially in the matter of the infamous Bill in question, he would wonder as to what better alternative the Congress and its like-minded ‘secular’ partners have in mind. Mere opposition to the proposed pro-Bangladeshi Hindu immigration law will not do. What is the foundation of its opposition, if any, to the existing health and education policy in the State? Education is a defining domain in the era of competitiveness – education in the real sense that is capable of producing a work force or human resource with not just degrees but also the expertise for it to be employable in a rapidly evolving job market. To be more precise, SEBA, which has earned notoriety for a continually failing examination paradigm, has a crying need for total overhaul insofar as its system of holding examinations and evaluating answer scripts is concerned, apart of course from the all-important issue of the validity and reliability of its method of testing a student’s true merit and potential. These are the real issues that affect today’s youth. Where is any meaningful alternative then?