GUWAHATI: Politics has been less about ideology and more about staying electorally relevant for motormouth Assam MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed.
The former government officer-turned-politician will contest the April 9 elections as a candidate of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).
Ahmed was first elected to the Assembly in 2011 when he had contested as a candidate of minority-based All India United Democratic Front from Baghbar in lower Assam.
He was re-elected from this Muslim-majority constituency in 2016 and then, in 2021, as a Congress candidate on both occasions.
In October 2021, the Congress suspended him for repeatedly violating party discipline, and he was allegedly cornered by the party.
In February this year, he joined the Raijor Dal, a party that champions the cause of regionalism as well as Assamese nationalism, reportedly after being assured of an election ticket. However, his name did not figure in the two lists released by the Akhil Gogoi-led party.
The Congress and the Assam Jatiya Parisha, two key components of the six-party Opposition front, allegedly opposed his nomination as a Raijor Dal candidate. The Raijor Dal is also a part of the Opposition front.
The exclusion made him approach the AITC. The Mamata Banerjee-led party fielded him from the Mandia seat in lower Assam’s Barpeta district.
“I am from Assam, but no party accepted me. I have joined the AITC with a heavy heart,” Ahmed said.
His political career has been eventful, marked by controversies.
In 2020, he ruffled quite a few feathers with his proposal for a “Miya” museum at the Kalakshetra in Guwahati. Miya is a pejorative term for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam.
The AITC announced the names of 24 candidates for the Assam polls, although one of them, Dulu Ahmed, opted out of the race. Party leader Sushmita Dev had noted that Assam needed an alternative to the BJP and the Congress.
