GUWAHATI: The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Thursday night announced the names of its 26 candidates, after negotiations for several weeks with ally BJP over the seat-sharing deal.
A party born out of the six-year-long “anti-immigrants” agitation has fielded half its candidates – 13 out of 26 – from the Bengali-speaking Muslim community for the April 9 Assam elections.
The list raised eyebrows. Social media is abuzz with reactions, with users saying that the list closely resembles that of the minority-focussed party, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).
Of the AIUDF’s 27 candidates named so far, 24 are Muslims. The AGP’s 13 Muslim candidates are the third highest by a party. The Congress fielded 20 Muslims. The AIUDF holds sway in the minority-majority constituencies of Lower, Central, Upper and Southern Assam.
The AGP has not yet clarified whether it differentiates between Bengali-speaking Muslims and the so-called Bangladeshis.
Currently led by minister Atul Bora, the AGP was born in Upper Assam’s Golaghat in 1985 at the end of the Assam Agitation. It had risen to power the same year, riding the anti-Bangladeshi sentiment, and ruled the state for a second term from 1996 till 2001 before being ousted by the Congress.
Upper Assam, which has 27 seats, is the Assamese heartland; ironically, the AGP fielded just two candidates from the region, with the BJP contesting from the remaining seats.
According to observers, the AGP should have bargained hard with the BJP in the interest of Assamese “jatiyatabad” (nationalism). They slammed the party for its alleged meek surrender to the BJP.
In a sharp contrast, the BJP has not fielded a single Muslim in this election. Seven from the community had contested on its tickets in 2021.
The Bengali-speaking Muslims, known by the pejorative term “Miyas,” have been under a constant attack from Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who announced that they would keep facing trouble as long as he remained in power.
He then softened his stance as the polls near, stating that the BJP does not view the “Miyas” as its enemies.