New Delhi: With the chorus of discordant voices from Assam Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rising against Himanta Biswa Sarma, the party’s central leadership has asked the Chief Minister to get the house in order ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, ThePrint has learnt.
Assam sends 14 MPs to the lower house, and with less than a year left for the general elections, it is a matter of great concern for the party that Sarma — a close aide of Home Minister Amit Shah — is facing resentment from his cadres, sources said. Senior BJP leaders have said that their feeling of alienation stem from Sarma’s style of functioning and the absence of a collective leadership.
The party’s central leadership, after receiving several complaints from the Assam unit, have directed CM Sarma and other senior members of the party to personally hear out aggrieved leaders, sources said.
In light of this, BJP Assam in-charge Baijayant Jay Panda held multiple meetings with some disgruntled leaders on 29 August in Guwahati. A day before that, the core group had met to discuss the issues plaguing the party and decided that a ‘Sampark Abhiyan’ will be launched this week to mollify disgruntled leaders, said party sources.
Speaking to ThePrint, an Assam BJP core group member said, “Senior leaders feel newcomers are not serious about the party’s core ideology. They feel redundant. The central leadership has asked the CM and others to address this. Not everyone is after a ticket but they need to be respected. It is not just one individual who has made the party successful in the state.”
That all was not well within the state unit became evident last month when Ashok Sarma, former MLA from Nalbari, told reporters in Assam that the party was being “harmed by a newcomer” and alleged that some people who had joined in 2015 were conspiring to chase away older party workers.
Himanta Biswa Sarma had quit the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government and joined the BJP in 2015 along with nine party MLAs.
Ashok Sarma also said that those instrumental in bringing the Congress down were now conspiring against senior BJP workers.
Last month, former Union minister Rajen Gohain, too, had attacked CM Sarma over the delimitation issue of Nagaon constituency.
Then, BJP’s kisan morcha general secretary Indrani Tahbildar’s alleged suicide last month caused a major embarrassment for the party as it blew the lid off a ‘cash-for-jobs’ scam and led to arrests of five people linked to the party. The issue was raised at the BJP’s core group meeting last Monday.
After former minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya cropped up in the matter, he wrote to state party president Bhabesh Kalita, alleging that a conspiracy had been hatched to dent his image. Kalita has reportedly asked the party general secretary to investigate the charges.
“I have been selflessly serving the party since its initial bad days till today, but over the past few years, I have started noticing that no major duties are given to us,” wrote Bhattacharya. “It’s sad that many conspiracies against senior party workers like me are being undertaken within the party. This is done by a section of ruthless, so-called BJP workers who are not aligned to the party ideology and policies.”
Speaking to ThePrint, he said, “The party needs a course correction, which is what I said in my letter.”
Former Union minister and BJP veteran Kabindra Purkayastha told ThePrint he was “saddened” hearing about infighting every day. “This mars the party’s image…decisions should be taken collectively, like we did in Atalji’s (Bihari Vajpayee) days.”
On what plagues the party, a former state unit chief said to ThePrint, “The problem is concentration of power in one hand and the marginalisation of president and general secretary posts. Earlier, these two were the eyes and ears of the party…they listened to leaders’ concerns…now every CM wants to adopt the Delhi model (where power is allegedly with only PM Modi and Shah)… they corner their rivals or don’t involve others in decision-making.”
Also read: BJP is riding two horses in Andhra Pradesh — courting Chandrababu Naidu, but Jagan still in sights
Dent in BJP Assam’s image
While Sarma may have attempted some damage control at the core group meeting by assuring an impartial probe into Tahbildar’s ‘suicide’, and a better mechanism for scrutiny of leaders inducted into the party, many leaders have been vocal about their resentment.
When Gohain resigned as chairman of food supplies corporation last month, he claimed he felt “betrayed”. He said he was hurt that his concerns, which he discussed with Sarma several times, “didn’t bring any positive outcome”. In a letter to Sarma, the contents of which have been widely shared in the media, he wrote: “I feel…almost disrespected that a senior member like me was not heard by his own party leaders on a genuine concern for the party’s benefit (sic).”
Gohain met the home minister in Delhi on 25 August and raised the issue of delimitation of his Nagaon constituency, which rendered it “unwinnable for BJP candidates”. The Nagaon seat comprised nine assembly segments dominated by indigenous Assamese people. After delimitation, four of these have been put under the Kaziranga Lok Sabha seat.
He also spoke about the comment made by Sarma’s minister Jayanta Mallabaruah, purportedly targeting him. Mallabaruah said in a Facebook post last month that senior leaders like Rajen Gohain should retire and play with their grandchildren. Later, he wrote on Facebook again that his comments were for one person alone.
Speaking to ThePrint, Gohain said, “I have apprised the home minister of the situation…He listened patiently. I have faith in party leadership but power being given to one person has created an imbalance in Assam.”
BJP MLA from Morigaon Ramakanta Dewri pointed out, “The BJP is not someone’s private property…It’s sad that a senior like Gohain has been humiliated…this will impact the party.”
Rejecting Gohain’s allegations, Mallabaruah sought to play down the delimitation exercise, saying it was done by the Election Commission (EC). “As far as the question of senior leaders is concerned, everyone is working for the people, there is no question of disrespect to seniors,” he said to ThePrint.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)