Being born in Cinnamara estate in Jorhat, the tea capital of Assam, gave me the privilege to understand the undying loyalty of the garden workers towards the Indian National Congress for decades and the reason why the party had been in power for such a long period, including the 15-year-long reign of late Tarun Gogoi ( 2001-2016). Cinnamara, the first tea garden of the state to be owned by an Indian, which was also the location of the famed film Chameli Memsaab, provided me the opportunity to grow up with three prominent Congress leaders of the state who happened to be my neighbours. One among them is Rupjyoti Kurmi. Yes, the same leader whose recent switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party became national news. No one from the garden could ever think that the son of Rupam Kurmi, who herself was a minister in Gogoi’s government, could leave the party of which he himself was a representative to the legislative assembly for four terms, to join the BJP. However, for the garden workers who had already changed their allegiance right from the 2014 general elections, this was inevitable, sooner or later.
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The March 2021 assembly elections were a litmus test for the Congress, which stitched up the Grand Alliance with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) led by Badaruddin Ajmal, and the Left to take on the BJP and its allies. In a bid to regain lost ground in the tea gardens of the state and the trust of its people, Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Bhagel camped in Assam for months. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi made several visits to the poll-bound state and made it a point that they were seen in the tea gardens stating the five guarantees of the party. The results though were contrary to the grand expectations of the Grand Alliance and the Congress, from a formidable force, was further relegated to a struggling entity.
“I don’t believe that the Congress has been wiped out. If you assess the party functioning at the grassroots in any part of Assam, from Dhubri to Sodiya, then you get to understand the strong, loyal and courageous worker base of the party. This proves that we are able. When there is dawn for the Congress party then there will be dawn for the state too. This is definitely a dark phase for the Assam Congress but the party has experienced more trying times during the ULFA days. It was when the party couldn’t organise meetings in someone’s house for fear of being shot or killed. That was the darkest time and this too is gloomy, but I am confident that we shall overcome,” said Ankita Dutta, the newly elected president of Assam Youth Congress, in an exclusive interview with News18.
“2021 is a year of learning lessons for Assam Pradesh Congress. We lost elections and a couple of our MLAs. However, I see it in a different way. Because of this I got more space and many young faces like me got their deserving opportunities. I chose Congress and I am also from a Congress family and we have our goals set…to bring the Congress back to power. Temptations are always there but I strongly believe that resistance helps you grow.”
Coming back to Cinnamara Tea Estate and its tryst with the Congress, the party after the assembly election debacle realised the futility of the Grand Alliance and decided to distance itself from the AIUDF, a factor that MLAs like Rupjyoti Kurmi were hinting at and harping upon much before the tie-up. The Congress, which got 29 seats and was almost washed out in the tea gardens including in Cinnamara, was up for more setbacks as its strongest face in Barak Valley, Sushmita Dev, left and joined the Trinamool Congress for a better political future. Soon, Rupjyoti Kurmi from Mariani and Sushanta Borgohain from Thowra followed Sushmita but decided to join hands with “Dada” Himanta Biswa Sarma. This led to the by-elections in five constituencies of the state where “once bitten, twice shy” Congress decided to follow the doctrine of Ekla Chalo Re (go on your own).
This time too lady luck did not favour the beleaguered Congress and the party could not open its score, further losing its tea bastions since ages like Mariani and Thawra. One of the three Congress leaders that Cinnamara had was now a BJP member of the legislative assembly. Does this indicate a wipeout of the Congress from the political canvas of Assam?
“Do not forget that when we had our government for 15 years, we won every election. Winning elections doesn’t ensure that the public will always back you. If the opposition is weak then why the Assam chief minister is adamant on whisking MLAs from the opposition? There is a definite ploy to weaken the opposition. Let’s give the newly elected government a year’s time. We have our arsenal just waiting for the right time. If you take my age into account then the BJP is 15 years younger to me and the Congress was there much before my grandfather was born. The Congress does not need to learn from the BJP,” argued Bhupen Bora, president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (appointed after former president Ripun Bora was relieved of his duties owing to the election debacle).
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More than five hundred kilometres away from Cinnamara in the abode of the clouds, the future of the Congress in Meghalaya too is not sunny. Under the leadership of Vincent H Palla, the state unit disintegrated as days after 12 of its 17 MLAs including former chief minister Mukul Sangma joined the TMC, Meghalaya Congress’s working president James S Lyngdoh resigned from the primary membership of the party without citing any reasons.
“I am tendering my resignation from the post of working president, Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee, AICC member and primary member of the Indian National Congress,” James said in his resignation letter sent to party chief Sonia Gandhi.
After the bypoll success in the two constituencies of the hill state, the National People’s Party (NPP) said that the Congress’s loss is an indication that there is a problem and the future of the party is bleak.
Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma in one of his interactions with the media said that the Congress failed to secure a single seat in the Northeast, which in a way is a clear indication of the problems of the party and its challenging future. Does this indicate that the stars in the Northeast sky have aligned to hint that the days are over for the Congress? Is it an opportune time for the Trinamool Congress to fill the space?
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“Every dusk has a new dawn; this is nature. There cannot be a dusk for the Congress. There will be a new dawn for the party every day. I don’t agree that the Congress has been wiped out. No force on this planet can wipe out the Congress. The Congress is not merely a political party, it’s the DNA of the country. In the last election, if you see, there was a 0.1% difference of vote share in Assam. Trinamool is the B-team of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The opposition should unite and play the role of the opposition. The TMC is weakening the opposition. Whosoever doesn’t believe in the ideology of the Congress and wishes to be sold for the lust of power and money, for them the door of the Congress is always open to leave,” said Jitendra Singh, AICC general secretary and party incharge of Assam.
“We have definite plans for Tripura as we are aligning with tribal forces and if you ask me about Meghalaya, it’s definitely a setback for the Congress. But I believe it’s the party first, then person.”
If change is the only constant, the Congress in Assam has made the first move towards change after two defeats in close succession. Assam Pradesh Congress has entrusted the responsibility to its MLAs to initiate a membership drive in each constituency besides their own assembly seats. The party plans to have 33 lakh members in its first phase, and the MPs have to take responsibility in their respective Lok Sabha areas. In a bid to achieve this, the APCC is holding a three-day training programme for its grassroots leaders and workers in mid-December. The state unit also plans to contest in all the 84 municipal wards of Guwahati in early 2022.
“I admit that we have lost elections but you have to admit that we have won elections. During this period we have won elections all by ourselves and with our allies. The BJP stole the elections in Manipur,” said P Chidambaram, senior Congress leader and former union minister. “There was a time when none of the Northeast states had a government except of the Congress. The problem in the Northeast is that there are no lasting ideological commitments. Regional parties tend to change their ideology very frequently, which is unfortunate. If the Northeast has to progress faster, then political parties should be steadfast to a certain ideology. I am pretty sure that if the Congress comes at the Centre then many here would switch back to the Congress. I don’t want to name but people who have switched their ideology overnight are chief ministers now.”
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