In his 15 years as Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi is threatened for the first time as his closest aide Himanta Biswa Sarma ditches him for the BJP, taking nine MLAs with him. Gogoi, however, remains confident that the Congress will retain the state in the assembly elections next year, and tells Dola Mitra why. Excerpts:
You expelled nine Congress MLAs for supporting Sarma. Doesn’t it expose Congress weakness in the state?
It was not a personal decision but taken by the party. And it shows Congress strength, not weakness. We can do without these MLAs. They are not to be trusted. They are not committed to the party.
But Sarma was your trusted aide.
True, I did trust him. And he showed signs of reform.
What do you mean ‘reform?’
He had an ULFA background and was also associated with the Asom Gana Parishad.
Why then did you initiate him into the party?
You have to give people a chance. And when he joined, he proved his loyalty.
‘Loyalty’?
He was an excellent deputy. He implemented my (corrects himself and says Congress’s) plans very efficiently.
He was lured by the BJP’s false promises. But there was a time when he himself spoke out against the BJP and questioned their role in Gujarat. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised pipelines and water connection to the people of the Northeast, he (Sarma) in a public declaration said, “The blood of hundreds of our Muslim brothers and sisters flows through those pipes.”
You met Rahul Gandhi in Delhi after the nine MLAs showed dissent. You came out sounding confident that you can do without them. But aren’t you afraid you will lose power?
Not at all. We are confident we will win.
That’s what you said before the 2014 parliamentary elections. But Congress got only three out of the 14 seats from Assam while the BJP got 7.
That’s different because now that the BJP is in power people can see through their empty campaign promises. They were given a chance but have failed to deliver.
You had said you’d resign if the Congress got less than seven seats....
It was a decision by the Congress high command. I was ready to resign. But my party felt they needed my leadership at this time even more.
You had also announced you would not contest the 2016 elections or lead the party campaign.
I changed my mind about that too. The war hero must continue to fight. That’s the diktat from the high command.
What advantage does Congress have over the BJP in the state in 2016?
People are already disillusioned with BJP. They know that during UPA rule it was among the states which enjoyed ‘special status’. But after the NDA government came to power, the Planning Commission has severely curtailed financial support. Today we are getting Rs 9,000 crore less, which is adversely impacting schemes such as backward region development and women’s literacy.
Are the BJP’s shortcomings your only strength?
The very fact that the people of Assam have elected me CM for three consecutive terms shows they repose faith in me. In this time we have done so much developmental work; 3,500 bridges were built and thousands of roads have been constructed—all of which has made connectivity to remote regions possible; there has been progress in education, health, literacy.
But militancy and insurgency, law and order continue to be a problem.
Most of the major areas are rid of this menace. During my first term between 2001 and 2004, my prime focus was to contain insurgency. I had a systematic plan. Development in backward areas, negotiation and firmness in dealing with militants. Now maybe a few smaller, scattered groups are operational but in 15 years there has been a lot of change. Flights to Guwahati have increased manifold. Isn’t this an indication that industrialists, businessmen and others are not afraid to come to Assam? As far as law and order is concerned, with most of our focus engaged in containing militancy I admit the situation is not as controlled but ours is a step-by-step process and law and order figures high in our list of priorities. In the first stage our emphasis was on armed police. This will gradually be shifted to civil policing but without doing away with armed police.
The Bodo-Muslim conflict....
This is a sensitive issue and we have dealt with it in a manner deserving of this sensitivity. The minorities need to feel protected. The Modi government would have all Muslims pushed back into Bangladesh as illegal immigrants. But that is not the way to go about it.
