Of all the five state Assembly elections, the results of Assam elections are more significant for the BJP as it is for the first time that the saffron party has succeeded in making inroads in Assam —
Of all the five state Assembly elections, the results of Assam elections are more significant for the BJP as it is for the first time that the saffron party has succeeded in making inroads in Assam — considered the gateway of the Northeast.
If the arrogance of Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who boasted of his image of being a “blunt chief minister”, alienated the party in the state, the decision of the Congress to drive out Himanta Biswa Sarma to create space for Gaurab Gogoi, son of Tarun Gogoi, in state politics also cost the party dearly in the Assam elections.
Mr Sarma was in the Congress when the party took the decision of forging an alliance with the Bodoland Peoples Front in 2011 and registered a landslide victory by winning 79 seats.
Though the strategy was formulated by Mr Sarma, the AICC gave credit to Mr Gogoi for the third consecutive win of the party in the state. The ignorance of the AICC led to a situation where the Congress not only severed its ties with the BPF, but also created a situation to marginalise Mr Sarma.
Mr Sarma, who joined the BJP in 2015 after being reprimanded for his move to remove Mr Gogoi in the Congress, was the first leader to advise the BJP leadership to forge an alliance with the BPF. The population of Bodo voters may be 12.5 per cent but their presence is spread over 50 Assembly segments.
The Gogoi government also failed to check corruption and failure in planning people-friendly development plans was another major factor that went against it.
It is significant that most of the Congress ministers and leaders representing different communities have also lost the elections.
