‘Old vs new’ rift brewing in Assam BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Several leaders who have been associated with the saffron party for many decades feel they are being overlooked and sidelined. In recent days, some of them have publicly stated that the newcomers aren’t serious about BJP’s ideologies but are getting more prominence

The next Lok Sabha elections are barely a few months away and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam is hoping to win at least 12 of the 14 seats in the state– increasing it by three from 2009. But all is not well within the party at present with a rift surfacing between so-called new entrants and the old-timers.

Bharatiya Janata Party (Representative Photo)

With the political scene heating up ahead of the general elections, trouble is brewing in the Assam unit of the BJP.

Several leaders who have been associated with the saffron party for many decades feel they are being overlooked and sidelined. In recent days, some of them have publicly stated that the newcomers aren’t serious about BJP’s ideologies but are getting more prominence.

The differences have reached the party’s highest echelons as well with discontent within the party over the recent delimitation process in Assam with complaints ranging from the slashing of seats for minorities and loss of constituencies for sitting legislators.

On August 25, senior BJP leader from Assam and former Union minister Rajen Gohain met Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.

“I told him (Shah) about my grievances. We had a productive discussion. Shah has been working for the party organisation for long and understood what I was worried about,” Gohain told journalists in Delhi after the meeting.

A week earlier, Gohain had resigned from the post of chairman of Assam Food and Civil Supplies Corporation, a state government entity, in protest against the delimitation of the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat, which he had represented four consecutive times. After his meeting with Shah, he declined to take back his resignation and informed he won’t be contesting the coming Lok Sabha polls.

On August 18, in a letter to chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informing him about quitting the post, which was of cabinet rank, Gohain had stated that the delimitation (which led to the reorganisation of the constituency’s area) had rendered the Nagaon seat “unwinnable for BJP candidates in the future and has also put people of the constituency under threat due to demographic change”.

He also claimed it would be impossible for the party to win from that seat in the future.

In its notification issued on August 11, the election commission (EC) had retained all 126 assembly and 14 parliamentary seats but revised the names of 19 assembly and one Lok Sabha seat. Apart from reorganising areas of constituencies, the commission reserved 19 assembly and two Lok Sabha seats for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and nine assembly and one Lok Sabha seat for Scheduled Castes (SCs).

Gohain was hurt that his concerns, which he discussed with Sarma several times, “didn’t bring any positive outcome”. “I feel betrayed and almost disrespected that a senior member like me was not heard by his own party leaders on a genuine concern for the party’s benefit,” the letter read.

The 72-year-old isn’t the only senior BJP member in the state who has expressed discontent over the process. Former state unit chief and minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya, who represents the East Guwahati assembly seat, is also upset. Two days prior to Gohain’s letter to Sarma, the Bhattacharya wrote to the BJP state chief Bhabesh Kalita.

Though it was in connection with his name getting dragged into the recent suicide of a woman party leader over the alleged leak of her intimate photos with another BJP leader and accusations against the duo of taking money from job applicants by promising them posts, the tenor of the letter was similar to Gohain’s.

“I have been selflessly serving the party since its initial bad days till today...but since past few years I have started noticing that no major duties are given to us...it’s sad that many conspiracies against senior BJP workers like me are being undertaken within the party,” Bhattacharya wrote in his letter.

“This is being done by a section of rootless so-called BJP workers who are not aligned to the party’s ideology and policies...the recent incident in which my name is being dragged is part of that same conspiracy to destroy senior and old party workers,” he added.

Last month, former BJP MLA from Nalbari and a senior party leader, Ashok Sarma, told journalists that the party is being harmed by newcomers. Without taking any names he alleged that some people who joined in 2015 were conspiring to ‘chase away’ old party workers.

He said people who had brought Congress’s downfall are now conspiring against senior BJP workers. It was clear that Ashok Sarma was referring to the chief minister, who had quit the Congress government of Tarun Gogoi and joined the BJP in 2015 along with nine other Congress MLAs close to him. While Himanta is now the chief minister, many of those who joined along with him are now senior ministers or hold important positions in the party’s state unit.

With Gohain publicly lamenting about getting sidelined, Jayanta Malla Baruah, a present cabinet minister who had left Congress in 2015 and joined the BJP, advised the senior leader to take retirement and play with his grandchildren. “At present, nearly 80% of members of BJP in Assam are those who joined after 2014. Those who joined the party several years ago can’t be termed newcomers,” he said.

The opposition Congress was quick to latch on to Baruah’s comments. “Gohain is 72 years old, the same age as Prime Minister Narendra Modi. By asking him to retire, is Baruah indicating that the PM should also retire from active politics?” questioned Assam Congress unit chief Bhupen Kumar Borah.

Facing flak for his remarks, Baruah was quick to issue another statement. “We always take the blessings and advice of our seniors in our political journey. It appears my remarks made in connection with statements by a particular person have been distorted by some. I hope no senior mistakes my remarks as questioning their age. I request them not to feel saddened by my remarks,” he posted on Facebook on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, taking cognizance of Bhattacharya’s letter, BJP state president Kalita has directed a party general secretary to inquire into the allegations of conspiracy. “Punishment will be meted to anyone found violating party discipline. We will not tolerate insults of our senior leaders,” he said.

Amid all these, the chief minister has rubbished any tussle between old and new party workers in Assam.

“There’s nothing called old or new BJP. If that was the case, do you think (Sarbananda) Sonowal (who was earlier in Asom Gana Parishad before joining BJP in 2011) or Himanta Biswa Sarma could have become chief ministers of Assam?” he told journalists in New Delhi on Tuesday stating that the so-called rift was a Congress-sponsored game.

“Sarma (Himanta) may say what he wants, but did we ask Bhattacharya, Gohain or Sarma (Ashok) to make those allegations? Himanata left Congress in 2015 due to his ambitions to become chief minister and soon his associates followed. There was peace in our party after they left. Those who left are opportunists and have no political ideology. We have nothing to do with the old versus new fight in BJP,” said Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah.

CM Sarma might try to deflect the issue by blaming the problem, but it is now clear that all is not well in the ruling party’s state unit. It remains to be seen how the BJP leadership handles the rift so that its goal of securing 12 seats in 2024 remains unaffected.