The Congress in Assam has ejected the minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) from the ‘Mahajot’ or opposition grand alliance that was formed ahead of the 2021 State election to prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from returning to power.
The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), the third major entity in the alliance that had 10 political parties, has indicated gravitating back to the BJP although it has not announced its departure from the ‘Mahajot’.
In its core committee meeting on Monday , the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee stopped short of calling the AIUDF communal while observing the “baffling behaviour and attitude” of the party led by MP and perfume baron Maulana Badruddin Ajmal “in relation to the BJP”.
The AIUDF leadership’s “mysterious praise” of the BJP and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma “has affected the public perception” of the Congress, the core committee observed. It thus unanimously decided that the AIUDF could no longer remain an alliance partner of ‘Mahajot’.
“It is unfortunate that the Congress took a one-sided decision to dismember the ‘Mahajot’. The situation today demanded unity among the secular political parties against the communal BJP,” AIUDF legislature party president Hafiz Bashir Ahmed said.
The BPF too has shown signs of trying to leaving the ‘Mahajot’. The regional party’s chief, Hagrama Mohilary, is learnt to have sent missives to the BJP for renewing ties.
“We will work together for the sake of Assam’s peace and development,” Mr. Mohilary said while praising the Chief Minister’s “good work”.
The BPF was the BJP’s ally in the Sarbananda Sonowal government from 2016-2021 but the two parties drifted apart ahead of the dissolution of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in April 2020. Consequently, the BJP struck a deal with the United People’s Party Liberal for the BTC elections in December 2020 and formed the new council together.
Including Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi and a CPI (Marxist) candidate, the ‘Mahajot’ had won 51 of Assam’s 126 Assembly seats in the March-April 2020 polls. The strength of the Opposition alliance was reduced to 48 after two Congress MLAs quit and joined the BJP while a BPF legislator died of COVID-19.
Minus the AIUDF, the ‘Mahajot’ now has 32 MLAs. There are speculations that one of the AIUDF legislators might quit to join the BJP.
