Opinion In Assam, an opportunity
BJP victory could be the state’s best chance to resolve the immigration issue.


At long last, the results are out. Fifteen years of Congress rule was too long for the common public, especially since towards the end of the third term, the government hardly did any work. People felt that another term to the Congress would be disastrous.
The signs were there to see for all. Some members of the Congress party rebelled against the party leadership and came out on the street. A lot of time was lost due to the Congress infighting. Yet the public was confused because the state also won several awards for its performance in sectors such as infrastructure and agriculture. Of course, nothing could be farther from the truth as the results have shown.
The BJP succeeded in sensing the true pulse of the people, especially when the young brigade from the Congress, under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma, joined them. This group of rebels had the inside knowledge and they were willing to work under the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal’s leadership. The victory for the BJP and its allies was assured the day the AGP joined them. It appears in this election the khilonjias — a term commonly used to refer to the indigenous people — have voted for the BJP and its allies against the Congress and AIUDF. This happened not just because of the poor performance of the Congress government but also due to the anti-foreigner issue, which had been troubling them. The slogan, “jati mati aru bheti” created the hype needed to bring the khilonjias together. The high turnout of the voters signalled the demand for change among the people — a change in work ethics, a change in leadership and a change in the attitude to resolve the foreigners issue.
Now that the election results have been declared, it would be interesting to watch how the BJP tackles the more difficult part of the problem: Forming a new government to tackle the poor state of affairs. It is not easy to set things right after the outgoing party has been in power for 15 years. What is required is a complete overhaul. Soon the new government will be criticised for not delivering the promises made in their manifesto. The opposition parties will hardly refer to the fact that changing an established system is not an easy task. The Central government, too, has been mostly criticised for not bringing back the black money stashed abroad. In Assam, the key issue going forward would definitely be the issue of foreign nationals. One hopes the new government will take up the suggestion made a long time ago about giving work permits after identification. Redistribution of the immigrants needs to be taken up with the Centre too. This is the best chance for the state to resolve this issue because the same party is in power both in the state as well as at the Centre.
In terms of the economy, the Congress government repeatedly harped on how much better the state did as compared to the time when the AGP ruled. But it totally ignored how the rest of India surged ahead in relative terms. Even within the Northeast, Assam is a laggard with only Manipur ranking below it in terms of per capita income. In terms of literacy and health statistics, too, Assam is near the bottom the group. The new government, with the advice and handholding of PM Modi, needs to restore Assam’s lost glory.