Swan song

‘‘I have nothing to lose. I am not a full-time politician that I will keep ruing over the defeat. It does not mean the people do not like me. Most of them still listen to my songs,’’ says Hazarika.

He may not be devastated over his defeat but he’s taken it seriously enough to prepare a 30-page report on it and plans to submit it to former prime minister and BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It talks at length on the problems within the state BJP unit and also the role of some state-level leaders who he feels led to his defeat. He polled over 2.88 lakh votes against the Congress’ 3.60 lakh. While he may have put down the reasons behind his defeat in words, he refuses to talk about it, only saying that a section of the influential local media campaigned against him. ‘‘This is not the first time that the media has been harsh to me. I have faced such media hostility several times in my life. But then the media would always come back to be kind to me,’’ says Hazarika who was an independent MLA in 1967.

Most see Hazarika’s joining the BJP as a decision that ensured his defeat. Many believe that it would have been better for him if he had contested on an AGP ticket—he has all along been close to the regional party which is why Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was one of the first people to call him up after the poll results.

Meanwhile, Hazarika is finding solace in his first love—music. His songs remain as popular as before. ‘‘We are flooded with letters from listeners who say they were deprived of his songs for over a month when the code of conduct for elections debarred All India Radio from playing his songs because he was a candidate,’’ said a programme official in Akashvani Guwahati.

Two days after the results were out, Hazarika went back to the studios, recording all his songs once again. He has been doing this for the past six months and has been spending three to four hours every evening, re-singing his songs. ‘‘I have been recording at least two songs every day. It is like discovering myself once again,’’ he says. ‘‘God has been kind to me to have given me such a wonderful voice. I will keep singing all my remaining years,’’ says the 78-year-old Hazarika.

This winter, he will be shooting Jaimati, a remake of the first Assamese film that was made in the early 30s by his mentor and guru Jyotiprasad Agarwala.