Several politicians who dominated Assam’s political landscape for decades will be missing from the upcoming three-phase assembly polls starting from March 27. One of them is Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, whose curriculum vitae would be the envy of any career politician. The 68-year-old is a former president of the influential All Assam Students’ Union that led the six-year-long Assam Movement against the influx of immigrants, resulting in the 1985 Assam Accord. A signatory to the historic accord, he was also the founder-president of the regional party, the Asom Gana Parishad, and a two-time chief minister, the youngest-ever in the country when he assumed charge in 1985. A member of the legislative assembly since 1985, Mahanta had also been the leader of the Opposition in the assembly.

But the Mahanta story, epochal and controversial in equal measure, has come to an end for all practical purposes because of his poor health and intra-party politicking. His posturing against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had not gone down well with the present AGP leadership since the party is a part of the ruling alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. After being denied a ticket to contest the polls, Mahanta declared he would not stand for election amid speculations that he might revive the Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive) — an outfit he had floated as a rebel in the mid-2000s, only to merge it with the parent party a few years later. In spite of his achievements, Mahanta is more fondly remembered as a student leader than as a politician. The former CM has started preparing to shift to his private residence in Guwahati once his present term ends. His aides say that his Kharghuli residence is in need of serious renovation — much like the man himself, if he wants to remain a flag-bearer of regionalism.

Risky reference

Nitin Gadkari is regarded as one of the most efficient ministers in the Narendra Modi government. He is also known to be blunt and extremely intolerant of inefficient bureaucrats. Gadkari controls two big ministries: micro, small and medium enterprises in addition to transport. On more than one occasion he has pulled up bureaucrats when projects have been delayed. Recently, his bluntness towards bureaucrats scaled a new high. During a live virtual inauguration event, the minister compared inefficient bureaucrats with cows and buffaloes that do not give enough milk in spite of being fed well. “Kya sarkar isliye hai ki hum logon ko phokat ka tankhwa de? (Is the government there to pay salaries for free?)”, he asked.

Going ahead with his comparison, Gadkari said that people keep cows and buffaloes and feed them well to get good quantities of milk. “But if we keep feeding them and don’t get enough milk then what is the use of keeping those animals? This question will naturally arise,” he said. The reference to the buffalo might not ruffle feathers, but Gadkari could be pulled up for seeking to label a cow useless if it does not give enough milk.

List of problems

The list of Congress star campaigners for the upcoming assembly polls drew attention because of the absence of big names from the G-23 — the leaders who are seen as dissidents after they wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi on the pitiable situation in the party. But Congress circles were abuzz with something else. Party leaders pointed out that the lists were prepared on the basis of personal rapport, not the electoral requirements and political stature of the leaders. One senior leader reacted angrily, “They say about some leaders that they are not mass leaders despite spending decades in public life and holding key ministerial portfolios in several governments. So they need not campaign. And RPN Singh, BP Singh, Jaiveer Shergill, Akhilesh Prasad Singh... are mass leaders. Doesn’t Rahul Gandhi see that the party is being run like [a] friends’ club?”

Many other leaders are wondering whether the people will listen to P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma and Kapil Sibal on the economy and China, or the likes of Jaiveer Shergill and Pawan Khera. While Raj Babbar, who was a permanent fixture in Congress campaigns across the country — and drew crowds because of his celebrity status — is now out of favour because of his association with the G-23, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was the most prominent face among Muslims, has now been replaced by Salman Khurshid. Navjot Singh Sidhu, whose name reappears in the list of star campaigners, has not gone for electioneering in the last few years. Even among women campaigners, the Congress has nobody in the list except Sonia Gandhi, who rarely goes out campaigning anymore, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whose participation, too, is restricted. Even hardcore loyalists admit to the brazen groupism and the lack of application of the mind reflected in the selection of campaigners.

Mysterious claim

There is little doubt about the political acumen of the Congress leader from Kerala, Ramesh Chennithala, who could even be the next CM if the United Democratic Front manages to win the upcoming state elections. But he has left even his diehard supporters confused by finding a link between the BJP and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) after Amit Shah addressed his own party’s rally in Thiruvananthapuram last Sunday. Chennithala contended that Shah not uttering a word about Rahul Gandhi during his speech meant that there was a clear understanding between the BJP and the CPI(M). Party workers are scratching their heads trying to decipher this mysterious claim.

Footnote

Karnataka politicians fear nothing more than ‘CD’. They equate ‘CD’ with any secretly-recorded video or audio clip with career-ending content. After the state minister, Ramesh Jarkiholi, got stung owing to a sleaze tape, at least half a dozen ministers got a court injunction against the publication of any such material on them. Why are political parties not disciplining leaders caught in such messes? As is said in Karnataka, some of them are larger-than-life owing to caste and regional power equations in politics and are thus uncontrollable.