Dilip Saikia’s appointment as general secy shows BJP now wants to reward ‘its own’ in Assam

MP Dilip Saikia is one of few BJP leaders from Assam who has been a part of RSS, ABVP and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He was appointed party general secretary Saturday.

BJP MP and national general secretary Dilip Saikia | Twitter | @DilipSaikia4Bjp

Guwahati: After holding various posts in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), from spokesperson to state secretary, MP Dilip Saikia from Assam was inducted as one of the new general secretaries of the party Saturday.

Saikia was one of the three leaders from the Northeast who found place in the much-anticipated organisational reshuffle announced by BJP national president J.P. Nadda. Nagaland MP M. Chuba Ao was named national vice-president and M. Kikon, a second term BJP MLA, was designated as national spokesperson of the party.

“It is not merely a post, but a responsibility, and I will try to do full justice to it with the support of all karyakartas,” 47-year-old Saikia, who is also the first Assamese general secretary of the BJP, told ThePrint.

According to Saikia, this will be an opportunity for him to highlight the issues that plague the Northeast specifically.

“I belong to the Northeast, I belong to Assam and I will try my best to find solutions to the sociopolitical, cultural issues of the region by presenting them in the national platform of the party,” he said.

Saikia, who was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from the Mangaldoi constituency in 2019, also acknowledged that “the organisational strength of the party in Northeast will have to be strengthened from the grassroots level”.

‘The chosen one’

‘Why Saikia’ is a question that struck many as the new organisation list was released. Well placed sources in the Assam BJP noted that it is part of a considered strategy to now promote and project leaders who have risen through the ranks in the party’s own ecosystem.

So far, the two prominent faces in Assam are Chief Minister Sarabananda Sonowal and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma — both of whom are imports.

Sarbananda entered the political scene after a successful stint as a student leader, serving as the President of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) before joining the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), and finally joining the BJP in 2011.

And Sarma was part of the Congress before walking out in 2015, over differences with then president Rahul Gandhi. In time, he has emerged as one of the most trusted leaders of the BJP, especially after he continued to script victories for the party across the Northeast as the convenor of the Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA) — the northeast chapter of the BJP’s NDA.

Sarbananda and Sarma’s prominent position in the party was necessary and useful when the BJP had to establish its grip over Assam and to enter this new territory. But now, the sources added, with the party firmly in control of the state, it is time to also start projecting and rewarding “its own people”.

Saikia’s political journey spans various organisations — the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, its student wing the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). And this is the direction, the sources said, the BJP will take from now on.

“Old-timers will be put in places of power. Till now, it was about accumulating power but now it’s about putting people with ideology in places of power. That is how the RSS-BJP function everywhere. Saikia is among the very few BJP leaders in Assam to have gone through the whole cycle of the ABVP and the rest of it,” said a party source, who did not wish to be named.

Across the party, Saikia is lauded for being outright in his views and telling it like it is.

“Such leaders are a boon for any political party. BJP has always given importance to youth leaders by entrusting them with different responsibilities in different times. Saikia has been recognised on the national platform for his hard work,” said Assam BJP vice-president Pulak Gohain.

After the announcement of the new central team Saturday, the BJP’s Assam unit issued a statement, congratulating Saikia. The statement highlighted how the appointment was made on Assamese saint-reformer Shrimanta Shankardev’s birth anniversary.

State BJP president Ranjit Kumar Dass officially extended wishes to Saikia on behalf of the party’s “42 lakh karyakartas”.

“In BJP, leadership positions are not asked for or demanded, but entrusted to those who place party above self. This post is eyed by everyone. Someone likes it or not, Dilip Saikia is the chosen one,” Dass said.

“If you are a party person, you will be given the due recognition. Unlike Congress, we do not work under someone, but together,” he added.

‘I joined politics not to be just MP or MLA’

Hailing from Purna Kamdev village in Nalbari of lower Assam, Saikia takes pride in having been a part of the third year training camp of the RSS. He has been a part of the organisation for the past 34 years, having joined it in 1986 when he was a college student.

Saikia has no political background and is a first-generation politician. His father Prabin Saikia is a retired teacher.

He considers himself a social activist first.

“I was basically related to social work, and then joined politics. I always had the dream to serve the people of Assam in the political arena. I joined politics not to be just an MLA and MP. Politics is our social responsibility and I also work in BJP as a social worker. Ours is the truly nationalist political party in the country.”

After graduating from Guwahati Commerce College in 1991, he joined the ABVP.

“I came to Guwahati in 1989. I was the first state organisation secretary of the ABVP for six years till 2002. Before that, all organisational secretaries came from outside Assam,” Saikia said.

Journey within BJP

Saikia joined the BJP in 2002 and went on to become the national executive member of the party’s youth platform BJYM in 2007.

In 2009, he was the Assam BJP state secretary for a year and was appointed to the post for the second time in 2012 for three years.

“It was under the leadership of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and minister Ranjit Dutta that I held post as the state secretary,” said Saikia.

He met Home Minister Amit Shah, then BJP president, in 2014 when the latter was working out strategies for the 2016 assembly elections in Assam.

“Amit Shah understood the pulse of the people of Assam. We talked about forging alliances with like-minded parties and he agreed to it. That is how we formed the government in alliance with AGP, BPF and ethnic organisations,” said Saikia, who was the party spokesperson in 2016.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2019. He contested from the Mangaldoi constituency replacing former MP Raman Deka, who like him was part of the RSS.

On his part, Saikia is confident that the BJP will continue its hold over Assam even in the 2021 assembly elections. He said he is certain that BJP’s Mission 100 — its target of winning 100 out of 126 assembly seats in Assam — will be successful.

“Mission 100 will be successful. No doubts at all. We will again form the government under the BJP leadership again in 2021.”

(With inputs from Ruhi Tewari)