Wanted to discuss my grievances but Rahul Gandhi reminisced about past: Bhupen Borah on factors that drove exit from Congress

From a young age, I have heard stories from my grandfather about how he volunteered at the 1926 Pandu Congress session and stood in line with thousands of volunteers to shake Gandhi ji’s hand. That is why there had been a feeling towards the party in us from a young age, and keeping with that, after completing my education, I joined the Congress in 1994 under (then chief minister) Hiteshwar Saikia’s leadership.

Soon, I was appointed the Yuva Congress’s General Secretary, then its president, then a Secretary with the All India Congress Committee, and then APCC president for four years. I have been an MLA and a parliamentary secretary. The Congress gave me all these roles… I have worked with nine state Congress presidents before I became president, and in them I had seen affection towards me, what I wanted to see from them.

When I first became Congress president, Gaurav Gogoi had a brotherly relationship. After the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, everything suddenly changed… Rakibul Hussain began gathering signatures from MLAs that Gaurav Gogoi should be made the state president, and many complaints were raised against me. I told the media that if the high command wants, I will step down from the position that very second. (In November 2024), there were the Behali by-elections to elect five MLAs. Ahead of that, I had formed an alliance with 16 parties, and I was its president. In a meeting of the alliance, it was decided that since there will be five by-elections, to show the alliance’s strength, we should let the CPI(ML) candidate contest from that seat. I communicated that to Delhi. They did not listen to me, and Gaurav Gogoi, Rakibul Hussain, and (AICC in-charge of Assam) Jitendra Singh together gave the ticket to a land broker without my knowledge.

These announcements were made from Delhi, and I only found out from the TV and papers one morning that the Behali ticket had been given to that person… At that time, the alliance parties told me that if the Congress cannot reach an understanding on even five seats, then, under your leadership, what hope can we have of 2026, when there will be 126 seats? So I resigned from my leadership of the alliance, but no one from my party told me I shouldn’t resign, and that I should withdraw the resignation. Many such things have been happening.

On the night of February 9 this year, six of us leaders from Assam and Jitendra Singh sat for a video conference. There it was decided that the alliance had been created by Bhupen Borah, it’s his brainchild, and since Priyanka Gandhi is coming on 18-19 of this month, if we are able to finalise the alliance before that, we will be able to declare it in her presence… I accepted, and the next morning I started working and started fixing meetings. But that night, Gaurav Gogoi called me and said that I would not be able to do it alone, and Rakibul Hussain would be there with me… The next morning, he told the media that Bhupen Borah had misrepresented the matter and that Rakibul Hussain would also be part of the talks.

One month ago, I told Gaurav Gogoi that I had been subjected to extreme humiliation and that I would hold a press meet against him, and I sent a copy of that letter to Debabrata Saikia and Jitendra Singh. No one responded to it… Now that I have resigned, he has said that Bhupen Borah is nothing and that his leaving will make no difference to the Congress. I have been seeing that in his eyes for the last eight months.

You have expressed unhappiness with the role and influence of Rakibul Hussain in the Assam Congress. Why has that been such a big concern for you?

In 2016, when the Congress government was voted out, one of the top reasons for that was rhino killing under Rakibul Hussain as forest minister… That issue is still alive. In 2021, (MP) Pradyut Bordoloi, (LOP in the Assam assembly) Debabrata Saikia, AICC Secretary Rana Goswami, Rajya Sabha MP Rani Narah, Barpeta MP Abdul Khaleque, and I wrote to Sonia Gandhi that there should not be a pre-poll alliance with AIUDF. If required, there could be a post-poll alliance.

However, they did not listen, and Rakibul Hussain, along with Jitendra Singh, got a pre-poll alliance done. We had written in our letter that the Congress would be ruined in Upper Assam if that were to happen. In the end, only four Congress MLAs won from Upper Assam, of which two have since left the party. When I became the president, I broke the alliance with the AIUDF… I had made the new alliance (with 16 partners), they broke it and then wanted me to remake it, but Rakibul Hussain entered the picture. That’s why I have been saying this is not APCC; it is APCC-R (Rakibul). Gaurav Gogoi is only the face; Rakibul Hussain is the base of the party.

But after so many years of challenging the BJP, why choose it as your new party? Since you have a good relationship with other opposition parties, why not them?

After I resigned, leaders from all these opposition parties came to my house and told me that they would give me the appropriate respect. My gratitude to them will be lifelong because in my most challenging time, they all promised me space.

But my politics is centred in Lakhimpur district, which has five assembly constituencies. Of these, one is ST reserved, one is SC reserved, and three are open seats, of which two have sitting BJP MLAs. And for a long time, there has been a pattern there that the contest is always between the Congress and the BJP. If tomorrow, the BJP gives me any of those seats, the straight fight will be between the Congress and the BJP.

If I had joined any of the other parties that approached me, I would have had to shift to areas where they are dominant, which would not be to my satisfaction… Even then, there had not been a long plan to join the BJP. But after my resignation, the Chief Minister also came to my home and spoke to me. Of the 32 years that I was in the Congress, we (Himanta and I) were together for 22 years. We had joined on the same day; we had both become GS in the Youth Congress on the same day. The person who has spoken the most against him, the person who has attacked him politically the most, is me. And the person who has suffered the most under BJP rule, from my family to me being beaten on the highway, is me. But it is about survival of the fittest in politics. Gaurav Gogoi has made his views about me clear, and Himanta Biswa Sarma has said there is a need for me there. In that case, what is the option for me?

So then this decision is completely driven by calculations, and ideology plays no role in it?

It is because of ideology that I spent 32 years in the Congress. Today, my dignity and my self-respect have been completely destroyed. I think if I had stayed for a little longer, the Congress itself would have removed me.

Since your resignation from the Congress, the CM has repeatedly referred to you as the ‘last recognised Hindu leader’ in the Congress. In the current climate in the state, what does this mean, and do you agree with such a description?

I think there are a couple of things. In 2005, I had started an award in the name of (Vaishnavite saint-reformer) Sri Sri Madhabdev and in 2007 had started a cultural centre in his name. I alone had bought the great Guru among the people after he had been forgotten. A few days ago, we went to Batadrava Than in a bus. While we were there, we were asked to leave by BJP workers. One person in the middle shouted that Bhupen Borah is a bhejal (impure) Assamese. Then I went forward and asked them to sing Sankardev’s longest kirtan, and asked them which part I needed to sing. There is no other leader in Congress who can say the same. Today, Gaurav Gogoi claims that he is a big Hindu leader, saying the CM is giving out certificates for Hindu leaders. When has a Hindu ever read namaz? I have done iftar parties as a party president. We do it as a tradition. But none of us has ever read namaz. We respect all religions equally.

What is your stand on the repeated rhetoric against the minority community, especially Bengali-origin Muslims, employed by the Assam BJP, especially a recent video showing an image of the CM shooting skull cap-wearing men that they deleted later?

My understanding is that it was made by AI. I cannot explain things made by AI, and it is not my concern. My concern is the reasons that compelled me to leave the Congress.

But what about their general stance on the issue exhibited by the BJP?

First, let me join the BJP. I am not currently a part of any political party, so I cannot respond to that right now.

The day you resigned, many Congress leaders gathered at your house. What had they told you, and why were they not able to convince you to stay back?

I wanted them to speak to me about the reasons for which I had resigned. But instead, they were talking to me about emotional things. Rahul Gandhi told me things like how he had gone to the hospital when my father had passed away, reminiscing about meetings, and how I had got election tickets 5 times. Or Jitendra Singh told me that we have been friends since 2007, that he had come to my house for Bihu last year. But they did not talk about my letter and my grievances even once.