THE UNHOLY FRIENDSHIP


   If there is something which is most beloved to the people of Assam, then it is none other than their culture. The same culture for which they had sacrificed and fought tooth and nail to keep it preserved. The story of Assam is not a joyous story, unlike many other states of India. Instead, it is a story of serial disasters executed by a political class to the people of state and pain of losing the land and culture to illegal infiltrators who made their way from Bangladesh to Assam.

  Historically, the national leadership of Congress had always snubbed Assam and its concern. Still, the people of the state with optimist eyes always looked at state leadership of Congress to understand their plight. After all, Assam's people initially identified Congress with the glorious legacy of legendary Gopinath Bordoloi, who made Congressmen sitting in Delhi to hear the voices and concerns of Assam. But all data and facts show that state leadership of Congress in the later phase did all to ditch the trust and expectations of people which they had placed on Congress state leadership.

  The first betrayal is that Illegal immigration, even after the historic Assam accord of 1985 continued under political patronage and forget about identifying illegal migrants in the state, they instead allowed them over the years to sit on the land of Assam, and now these immigrants have every document to prove their citizenships. This led to a demographic alteration in the state of Assam. 12 districts today are Muslim majority, and most of them have emerged like mini Kashmir, where crimes against native people of Assam are a regular occurrence now.

  The second betrayal is that when Assam accord was signed in 1985, Congress state and central leadership never displayed an eagerness to conduct the NRC exercise quickly. They began NRC as a pilot project in 2010, which was already too late but later dropped this process after a massive uproar from All Assam Muslim Student Union, which is viewed as the pawn of an Islamist political outfit AIUDF which was floated in 2005. This political outfit enjoys excellent support among Muslims, mostly illegal immigrants. Thanks to the soft policy of Congress, state leadership on illegal migrants that outfits like AIUDF exists in Assam's political fray.

  Even after dumping the interests of the people of Assam one after another, the Congress state leadership who claim them as “Khilonjiyas” are now apparently all set to betray once again by weaving a political and unholy friendship with Badruddin Ajmal led AIUDF ahead of next year's assembly polls in Assam. Ironically, this is the same AIUDF, allegedly having affinities with "Jihadist forces," as unveiled by an intelligence report a few years back. Even in the year 2018, former army chief of India had also expressed his concerns over the way AIUDF is growing in Assam, which is a threat to the state. 

  Not surprisingly, Congress has lost the trust among Assam, be it Assamese Hindu speakers or Bengali Hindu speakers. It can be rightly noted from the fact that in 2019, all three seats where Congress won were Muslim dominated electorates. No matter what Congress insists, the reality is that now all they are looking for is to revive politically in Assam. They are now ready to join hands with someone who is considered the poster boy of illegal Muslim immigrants who pose a more significant threat to Assam's demography. 

  Muslim population forms 35% of the whole state population in Assam, and several reports mentions:

They play a determining factor in 40 of the 126 assembly constituencies in Assam. Interestingly, out of these 40, only 19 constituencies have indigenous Muslims, and the rest are with Bangladeshi origin Muslims”.

  Historically, these illegal Muslim voters who are mostly Bangladeshi immigrants settled during Congress regime had voted for Congress in clusters, but after the AIUDF came into the picture, these votes often get divided, and Congress now wants to keep these votes in bulk for electoral advantage. It is astonishing to see Congress senior leaders like Tarun Gogoi and Ripon Bora who once called AIUDF a communal party in 2019 is now standing with garlands to welcome AIUDF which shows there is no so called principled stand in Congress on the issue of Assam and its cultural concerns and they have brazenly surrendered to Islamists and their threat in Assam.

  But in between all these lust for power, it is hard to believe that this Congress state leadership, which was once under the flag and legacy of icons like Gopinath Bordoloi are now ready to contract the soul and culture of Assam to the hands of radical Islamists like Baddrudin Ajmal led AIUDF

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