2021 Congress-AIUDF election pact was a sin, claims Assam Cong chief

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 5, 2024

Assam Congress chief Bupen Kumar Borah on Wednesday claimed that the Congress had committed a sin by allying with AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front) in the 2021 elections but the atonement of sin was made by snapping ties with the communal party in 2022.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Borah said: “Congress had sinned by forging an alliance with AIUDF in the 2021 elections. However, I was able to expose the ties between two communal forces BJP and AIUDF. When I broke the alliance, there was an outcry within the party platform also.”

The Grand Alliance which was formed with two political majors Congress and AIUDF was broken soon after Bhupen Kumar Borah was appointed as the president of APCC in August 2022.

“I have to face challenges for this. I was about to lose my APCC president for this. But I realized that when we are fighting against a communal party like BJP, we should not take another communal party like AIUDF with us,” Borah also said.

“But there are some leaders who brought Badaruddin Ajmal to New Delhi to sit with our Central leaders over a cup of tea. There was a move within the party to ensure Ajmal’s participation in Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Ajmal also announced that either he would be in policies or I would remain as APCC president,” Boral claimed.

“Now we are free from this slavery of sin that is why the people are accepting us in Upper Asam. It reflects in the results,” the Congress leader said.

“Our main battle will be in 2026. It is not a fight of Congress alone. It is a battle of people. There are some speed breakers. Dosti and Doshman should be identified,” he said.

“There should not be ush par or ich par. Those who are in ush par would not be with us. If anybody is in ich par they are always with us. If anybody fights against communalism, our door is open for him,” he further said.

“We can’t do what we desire considering the strength of our party. This election was an experiment, now it is over,” Borah said.

Borah said that the Congress wants India Block to form the government at the Centre to fulfil its promises made to the people during the elections.

Boral in a letter to the All-India Congress Committee on Wednesday said that the India Bloc should form the government at any cost.

“We want India Block to form the government at the Centre at any cost because we need to fulfil the promises made to the voters during the election,” he said.

Admitting that the number of seats of the congress party in Assam has been decreased. The Congress won only three seats, while BJP 9, one each by AGP and UPPL.

Of 14 Lok Sabha seats, Congress won Dhubri, Nagaon and Jorhat, while BJP captured Guwahati, Kaziranga, Dibrugarh, Diphu, Ailchar, Karimganj, Darrang-Udalguri, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur.

Two alliance partners of BJP- AGP won Barpeta and UPPL won the Kokrajhar seat.

“Certainly, our tally has been decreased. We expected more seats. We will introspect it and find out our mistakes,” Borah said.

“However, if you go through the overall pattern of votes, you will see that we achieved a resounding moral victory and the mandate firmly supports our cause,” Borah also said.

“In the election, our vote share was 37.48% against BJP’s 37.43 per cent. It is according to the data given by the Election Commission of India (ECI). However, it did not reflect in the number of seats,” the Congress leader claimed.

“I do not speak it for self-satisfaction. However, according to ECI data, we are in the first position in 45 per cent of a total of 28,645 booths in the state. However, we are weak in BTR and Karbi Anglong,” he further said

Borah alleged that the BJP was trying to alter the foundation of Assamese tradition and culture set by Sankardeva and Madhavdeva. Our battle was against it. We got good responses from people in this battle.

“Yes, we were defeated. I will take moral responsibility. We will have a review meeting. We will introspect,” he said.

“We won three seats. But our three MPs are enough to represent Assam and focus the issues and problems of the state on the floor of the parliament,” he also said.

In Karimganj also we were defeated by the lowest margin of votes. We never expected it,” he further said.

“Our Gaurav Gogoi was elected in a larger mandate. Rakibul Hussain was also elected with a recorded mandate in the country. We were able to expose the ties between the two communal forces- BJP and AIUDF,” he added.