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North East:Assam :Electioneering picks up - Cong manifesto tops ULFA truce

	March 27, 2006

Electioneering in Assam has picked up amid reports of rumblings in almost all political parties over distribution of tickets.



Caught unawares by the surge of protests against the denial of election tickets to several heavyweight aspirants, the Congress high command is now employing a carrot-and-stick policy to set its house in order before the first phase of polling on April 3.



Troubleshooter Digvijay Singh, the AICC general secretary for Assam, has been holding marathon meetings with the disgruntled leaders in Guwahati. The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister’s message to the dissenters is simple: “Follow the party line and get suitably rehabilitated or show dissent and face the music.”



The likelihood of Assam getting a bicameral legislature and the ticket aspirants who missed the bus being “accommodated” is one of the baits the party has been using.



“The party offered to include us in the 60-member Upper House that could be constituted after the formation of next government. But we made it clear to Digvijayji that we are not kids to be tempted by such lollypops,” said a disgruntled leader after a meeting with the AICC leader and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.



Supporters of some of these “deprived” leaders went on the rampage at the PCC headquarters. Three of these leaders - Dileswar Tanti in Doomdooma, Naba Talukdar in Palasbari and Kishore Bhattacharjee in Kamalpur - have already switched allegiance to the Nationalist Congress Party.



Several more have either filed nominations against the party’s official candidates or are on the verge of doing so. The last date for filing nominations for the second phase of polling was March 24.



Singh is understood to have made it clear to all ticket aspirants that stern action would be taken if they contested as Independents.





Congress manifesto



Riding piggyback on the ULFA to return to power, the ruling Congress has put the peace process with the outfit on top of its agenda, promising to start the long-awaited political talks to end the reign of terror in the state.



What makes the Congress’ pre-poll promise different is that the party has for the first time named the ULFA directly in its manifesto.



The ULFA, however, has more than once made known its displeasure over political parties trying to use its name for “confusing the people”. The Congress manifesto, too, is unlikely to go down well with the outfit.



The Congress manifesto reflects the concerns and aspirations of all sections of society - the minorities, the tea tribes, students, teachers, women, businessmen, the self-employed, government employees and the culturally-inclined.



Accommodating the demands of the All Assam Students Union, the party has promised to provide 80 to 100 per cent job reservation for local youth in central and public sector undertakings in the next five years.



Exuding confidence that the electorate would return it to Dispur, the Congress stated: “In our second stint, we promise not only to put the state’s economy back on the rails but also to make Asom one of the frontline states.”



PCC president Bhubanes-war Kalita, working president Anowara Taimur and AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam Digvijay Singh were present during the release.





State of AGP - Brindaban out of race



Faced with massive dissension over ticket distribution, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Brindaban Goswami on March 22 stunned his supporters and party colleagues by announcing that he will not contest the elections.



The dramatic declaration followed days of high drama in the party with several dissident leaders threatening to upset the AGP’s calculations by contesting as Independents against its official nominees.



Goswami, a sitting MLA from Tezpur, however, carried the drama forward by also announcing that his decision was subject to the party’s approval. However, reports say party leaders are putting pressure on him to change his mind. Goswami had been projected as its chief ministerial candidate by the AGP.



If the party so desires, it could still project him as its chief ministerial candidate, Goswami said, pointing out that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had not contested the 2001 Assembly elections.



The AGP president justified his decision of not contesting the elections by saying he wanted to devote more time to the party’s electioneering activities. He also named himself president of the 51-member election committee formed to oversee electioneering activities. The committee comprises party MPs and leaders who were either denied tickets or opted out from contesting.





Foreigners issue, a major poll plank



The influx of foreigners from Bangladesh is emerging as a major poll issue in this year’s Assembly polls in Assam.



The BJP is playing the foreigners card, challenging a recent change in the provisions of the law on foreigners in the apex court. It claimed that the legislative amendment reintroduced provisions of the repealed Migrants Act through the backdoor.



The amendment to the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964, had been brought in by the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre to safeguard the interests of minorities.



Advani said the attempt to resuscitate the migrants’ law was a matter of grave concern as it would challenge the country’s unity and integrity. He launched a frontal attack on the Congress government at the Centre, claiming it had failed to discharge its duty of protecting a state from external invasion and internal disturbances as enshrined in Article 355 of the Constitution. This, he said, had occurred because it had ignored the grave threat spawned by unabated influx into Assam.



He said even the apex court, while striking down the IM(DT) Act, had equated influx by illegal migrants with foreign aggression. “Instead of taking cognisance of the Supreme Court’s observation, the Congress is busy reviving the IM(DT) Act through the amendment in the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order.”



Blaming Assam’s militancy on illegal infiltration, he said Bangladeshi migrants deprive indigenous people of their land and livelihood, which leads to insurgency.





AICC for new law to curb influx



In an apparent effort to upstage the BJP on its pet issue of illegal immigration ahead of the Assembly elections, the Congress has said it was open to the idea of bringing in legislation to punish those who employ illegal migrants in Assam.

Admitting that infiltration would be a major issue in the elections, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh said he endorsed the idea of a law to punish those who provide jobs to illegal migrants.



“I fully agree that there should be a law here to punish those who provide jobs to illegal migrants,” Singh said.



Citing the example of West Bengal, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said the problem of illegal migrants was not restricted to Assam alone.



He, however, lambasted both the AGP and BJP for painting the issue in political colours. He said both parties were interested in keeping the issue alive only to gain political mileage.



“What right does AGP have to talk about the issue when it did not do anything to solve the problem when it was in power for two terms? The BJP, on the other hand, always looks at the issue from a communal angle,” Singh alleged.



He also took to task the nascent Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) on the issue, saying that the party had entered into a “tacit understanding” with the AGP, which had fought a legal battle to scrap the IM (DT) Act.





Rap on secret killings



The ghost of secret killings is back to haunt Assam, at a time when the Assembly polls are knocking on the door.



The Supreme Court on March 24 directed the Centre, the Assam government, former state chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and others to respond within six weeks to allegations that secret killings were carried out during counter-insurgency operations in the state during the AGP’s tenure.



A bench comprising Justices A.R. Lakshmanan and H.K. Sema sought an early response to the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Aalok, a non-governmental organisation. The court took note of the fact that it was a sensitive matter.



It had issued a notice on the petition on February 16.



The bench rejected a plea by Delhi, Dispur and Mahanta, seeking three months’ time to respond to the PIL. The suit has alleged that hundreds of innocent Assamese people were secretly killed on the pretext of liquidating Ulfa militants.