Future of regionalism

The ongoing Lok Sabha election can also be termed a litmus test for Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a regional party that was formed in the backdrop of a six-year-long agitation demanding the detection and deportation of infiltrators from a neighbouring country to Assam. While the Supreme Court itself has been on record describing infiltration from erstwhile East Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh as “external aggression,”  the changing demographic composition of several districts of the state is enough to foresee what is there in the future for Assam. One does not need to study rocket science to establish or prove that infiltration has taken place on a large scale and that the indigenous communities of Assam have been facing the threat of being converted into a minority. The demographic composition of the Assam Legislative Assembly in the post-Bangladesh era is another proof of how demographic change has taken place in Assam. Unfortunately, while the AGP had failed to do anything significant, despite being in power in the state for two terms, to detect and deport the infiltrators, successive regimes at the centre, be they of any hue and any ideology, have chosen to only resort to all kinds of gimmicks to hoodwink the people of Assam when it comes to tackle the influx issue. If one national political party has been often accused of working towards protecting the infiltrators and using them as a vote bank, then another national party too has not been able to prove that it actually has a plan or programme to detect and deport the aliens. The National Register of Citizens (NRC), on the other hand, has led nowhere. Under these circumstances, regionalism is still relevant in Assam, provided the AGP, the main regional party, rises to the occasion with a proper and implementable agenda. People have started feeling that just clinging on to a national party cannot lead the AGP anywhere. In the current Lok Sabha election, the regional party has an opportunity to prove its worth by winning at least one of the two constituencies that its senior alliance partner has given it. So is the case with the UPPL, which has been allotted one constituency. Both regional parties must realise that their issues are common because the enemies of the indigenous communities are also common. Given this reality, both must work hard and in close coordination, uniting the ethnic and indigenous communities for all socio-cultural and political purposes.