That the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has scripted its own nemesis cannot be gainsaid. For a party that rose from the martyrdom of hundreds of Asomiyas during the course of the Assam Agitation, nothing can be more unfortunate — and shameful. The AGP has been in the opposition for the last eight years and has had enough scope to bring the ruling Congress to its knees, but it has failed itself and the people time and again. The regional party has been more occupied with internecine fights rather than with meaningful politics. In this way it has only allowed the Congress far more ground to consolidate than how the ruling party would have otherwise positioned itself. A weak opposition is the best boon for any ruling party. Who else appreciates this better than the Congress in Asom? Yet, the AGP seems to be unconcerned — as though the invoking of the Assam Agitation and the party’s advocacy of regionalist ideals alone would bail it out.
The largest regional party of the State is ridden with an acute leadership crisis. If you disagree, ask who is their real and unanimous leader who can take on the Congress’ incumbency and you will know how and where the AGP suffers. In fact its chief characteristic is its inability to produce a mass leader of merit despite it being a party that at one point of time the whole Asomiya society had rallied behind and backed without a second thought. How ironic that the same party should struggle perpetually, when there is no dearth of issues to confront the Congress and reveal its true hue before the masses. Remember the grand AGP inauguration in 1985 and the oath-taking ceremony following its historic triumph? That imagery perhaps pricks your conscience today, especially when you recollect what the fresh-from-university satraps did once they were in power and how their main concern remained garnering of wealth at the cost of all development works and welfare of the very people who had given them the privilege to rule the State and redefine its destiny, and when you take into account their performance as opposition in the past eight years.
However, the laboratory of politics does not discriminate. Only, the experimenters need to identify the apparatus that will suit them. They need to identify their strengths and weaknesses too. With general elections round the corner, has the AGP attempted that? We do not know. But what is clear is its failure to negotiate its past and formulate a success formula for the future. And this is primarily because the party continues to meander in the absence of a right anchorman and articulation of the issues of the day. It is not difficult to throw a challenge to a ruling party whose hallmark is its magic wand to convert every single illegal Bangladeshi to an Indian minority citizen, or which goes blind at the sight of every single illegal Bangladeshi. It is not difficult to counter a party that still feels guilty of not having been able to defend and save the IM(DT) Act — singularly responsible for the flooding of Asom with illegal Bangladeshis. It is not difficult to fight an incumbency under which Asom has become one of the most corrupt States of the Union. But where is the AGP leader to perform such feat and work out a democratic wonder? Obviously then, the Congress is all smiles. And remember, when the opposition is weak, mute or invisible, why should any ruling party in the Indian political scheme of things be bothered about performance? It just needs to articulate its pretence and gimmickry. The sentinel
The largest regional party of the State is ridden with an acute leadership crisis. If you disagree, ask who is their real and unanimous leader who can take on the Congress’ incumbency and you will know how and where the AGP suffers. In fact its chief characteristic is its inability to produce a mass leader of merit despite it being a party that at one point of time the whole Asomiya society had rallied behind and backed without a second thought. How ironic that the same party should struggle perpetually, when there is no dearth of issues to confront the Congress and reveal its true hue before the masses. Remember the grand AGP inauguration in 1985 and the oath-taking ceremony following its historic triumph? That imagery perhaps pricks your conscience today, especially when you recollect what the fresh-from-university satraps did once they were in power and how their main concern remained garnering of wealth at the cost of all development works and welfare of the very people who had given them the privilege to rule the State and redefine its destiny, and when you take into account their performance as opposition in the past eight years.
However, the laboratory of politics does not discriminate. Only, the experimenters need to identify the apparatus that will suit them. They need to identify their strengths and weaknesses too. With general elections round the corner, has the AGP attempted that? We do not know. But what is clear is its failure to negotiate its past and formulate a success formula for the future. And this is primarily because the party continues to meander in the absence of a right anchorman and articulation of the issues of the day. It is not difficult to throw a challenge to a ruling party whose hallmark is its magic wand to convert every single illegal Bangladeshi to an Indian minority citizen, or which goes blind at the sight of every single illegal Bangladeshi. It is not difficult to counter a party that still feels guilty of not having been able to defend and save the IM(DT) Act — singularly responsible for the flooding of Asom with illegal Bangladeshis. It is not difficult to fight an incumbency under which Asom has become one of the most corrupt States of the Union. But where is the AGP leader to perform such feat and work out a democratic wonder? Obviously then, the Congress is all smiles. And remember, when the opposition is weak, mute or invisible, why should any ruling party in the Indian political scheme of things be bothered about performance? It just needs to articulate its pretence and gimmickry. The sentinel
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