Assam NRC: Congress ropes in Tarun Gogoi to restore lost ground, but move exposes party's disconnect with regional leaders

Congress is now pinning its hope on party veteran and former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi to salvage its NRC narrative which was crippled due to a faux pas committed by senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. Gogoi is the third leader from the state who is addressing the issue at the national level after state Congress president Ripun Bora and former minister Prodyut Bordoloi. The party believes that the leaders from Assam are best suited to represent the Congress’ stand on the issue as they are far more familiar with it compared to party leaders from other states.[caption id=“attachment_4348571” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Former Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi. Rishiraj Bhagwati/Firstpost[/caption] But the move is unlikely to help the party as the issue has already debunked the party leadership’s lack of knowledge about the NRC procedure and the delink with its regional leaders. It is noteworthy that Gogoi who led Assam for three terms claimed the NRC to be his brainchild on the very first day in which the final draft NRC was published. Ironically, the Congress leadership was creating a ruckus in Parliament opposing the NRC at that time along with the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party.

Though there are not many takers for Gogoi’s claim in his home state, still it was seen as a matured attempt to capture the NRC narrative. As a veteran politician, Gogoi knows that identification of Bangladeshis is an issue close to the heart of indigenous people in Assam. The NRC process has infused such a sense of security among the indigenous people in Assam that many organisations in other states have also demanded similar exercises in their states. The North East Students Organisation has already held a press conference demanding the extension of the NRC procedure in those states. Gogoi’s effort to get hold of the NRC narrative did not meet his desired consequence as the Congress leadership began protesting the NRC in Parliament without calculating the consequences. Even worse was Azad’s goof-up in his speech on NRC in the Rajya Sabha. In a bid to prove the NRC exercise to be a nasty procedure he said that the real number of people who are at risk of losing their citizenship would be far more than the estimated 40 lakh. According to the Congress leader, minors were not included in the list. But in reality, minors are also included in the estimate of 40 lakh people. To correct this error former Assam minister Bordoloi had to hold a press conference admitting that it was a mistake due to ignorance of the party’s leadership. The NRC episode has shown that the Congress has practically no idea about the issues in the northeastern region, a political terrain which it claimed to be his bastion till a couple of years ago. Had it any idea of the issues it would not have supported a protest right after the publication of the final draft NRC, without taking people’s view on the count.