Outlook – July 06, 2019

“Bangladeshis”—the most commonly
used single­word definition of anyone
suspected of being a foreigner—spawned
a six­year­long mass movement, out of
which emerged the AGP, the self­styled
protector of Assamese identity. The
party was elected to power twice, the
last time in 1996, but could never live up
to the expectations of the people. Assam
went back to the Congress again for 15
years till the BJP swept the state with the
promise of getting rid of “all infiltrators”.
For many people of other linguistic den­
ominations in the state, the BJP was the
promise of ending what they felt was
growing Assamese chauvinism.
But the fact that the CAB never turned
into an election issue despite violent
protests confirms the worst fears of
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, AGP leader
and a two­time former chief minister
who once led the anti­foreigner agitation.

“The poll results reflect

that there is a crisis for

Assamese sub­ national­

ism for which the people

were on the streets

(against the CAB),” says

Mahanta. The AGP also

paid the price of failing to

take a firm stand on the

issue. Just weeks after

walking out of the alliance with BJP after

the CAB was tabled in the Rajya Sabha,

the AGP was back with the ruling party

for the Lok Sabha polls despite

Mahanta’s objections. “The political

parties just issued statements against

the CAB but they never made it an elec­

tion issue asking people to vote against

the bill. So, it’s their failure. They have

failed to convince the people. Apart from

that, because of the polarisation, people

voted for the BJP,” Mahanta adds.

T

HERE are others who subscribe to

this view. “Assamese nationalism is

based on language. And there has

been a crisis but not only because

of CAB. Assamese nationalism is being

challenged primarily because of the

confusion between Assamese linguis­

tic nationalism and patriotism,” says

Apurba Kumar Baruah, a retired pro­

fessor of North­Eastern Hill University

in Shillong. Language definitely is a

big factor as many feel that the CAB

will only turn Assamese speakers into a

linguistic minority in a state which has

a large Bengali­speaking population,

most of them migrants from erstwhile

East Pakistan.

“I believe, nationalism or sub­national­

ism is based on language not religion like

the BJP and RSS are trying to impose.

But it will be crucial if Assamese sub­

nationalism will be able to overcome the

crisis. If it continues, in the next 10 years,

Assamese sub­national­

ism will be finished,” says

Hafiz Ahmed, president

of a literary body which

represents people of East

Pakistan origin who have

adopted Assamese as

their mother tongue.

Not all, however, think

that Assamese national­

ism is dead. Samujjal Bhattacharya of the

All Assam Students’ Union, which spear­

headed the Assam agitation, says the

issue of sub­nationalism can’t be judged

on the basis of voting results. “The elec­

tions were never a referendum on the

CAB though the BJP wants to project it

otherwise. We stood united against the

CAB and so it couldn’t be tabled in the

Rajya Sabha,” Bhattacharya tells Outlook.

For Sushanta Talukdar, a political

commentator, the scene is not as bad as

it seems. “Scientifically speaking, even

the opposition Congress got a good share

of the votes which indicates people who

opposed the CAB didn’t vote for the BJP,”

Talukdar says. But he feels that AGP has

failed as a political party. Professor

Baruah too says the AGP is gone as a

party and “can’t be revived”.

For the BJP, however, there is no

threat to Assamese nationalism. “Assam

has been part of India since the

Mahabharata days. Since thousands of

years, we have been following Indian

culture. There is no argument on that.

We definitely believe in the idea of

‘Akhand Bharat’. I’m a proud Assamese

and a proud Indian,” says Assam BJP

spokesperson Pabitra Margherita.

In this saffron land in the Northeast,

loud chants of “Bharat mata ki jai” are

drowning the feeble attempts at “joi

aai Oxom” (long live mother Assam),

the war cry that has always defined

Assamese nationalism. O

SAFFRON DANCE BJP supporters

celebrate; (right) P.K. Mahanta has

failed to stop the AGP’s decline.

The rout of the

AGP is the

biggest sign

of eroding

sub-nationalism

in Assam, now

painted saffron.

8 July 2019 OUTLOOK 13

GETTY IMAGES