Digvijay Singh, Congress general secretary, who is in charge of Assam, tells Saubhadra Chatterji that Congress has the best organisational set-up in the state.
You have been camping in Assam for the last two weeks for the elections. What is your assessment of the ground situation?
I don’t want to be complacent, as there is no place for complacency in politics. But in 2006, the BJP and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) fought elections together. Then we had won the election. This time the Opposition has failed to put up a united fight against us. I don’t deny that this split in the Opposition camp will benefit the ruling Congress party. In the last election, Badruddin Ajmal’s AUDF also suddenly sprang up. This time we have a good idea of what they can do.
But you also face an anti-incumbency sentiment, having ruled for 10 years…
Whenever I see a government going for polls to get a mandate for its third term, I recall what Pranab Mukherjee told me when I was facing elections after being in power for 10 years in Madhya Pradesh. Dada told me, “Digvijay, getting a third term is the most difficult task. If you win the third Assembly election in a row, you are safe for the next one or two elections.” (laughs) I couldn’t make it. But one good thing about Tarun Gogoi’s government is that there is no serious corruption charge against it. He holds a clean slate.
Another good thing the chief minister has done is whatever corruption cases the Opposition has raised, the CM has handed them over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. In total, nine cases were referred to the CBI and it accepted six cases for probe.
Your party is also facing this election after the drubbing it received in Bihar. While, Nitish Kumar swept the polls there, the Congress got reduced to just four seats. Has it learnt the lessons from Bihar?
Of course, we have learnt our lessons. But remember one thing: the Congress is more organised in Assam than in any other state. I say it from my own experience. We have grass root level organisation all across the state.
In Bihar, circumstances were different. We had to pay the price of being with Lalu Prasad for such a long time. I remember once I had gone for a Congress rally in Bihar when Prasad was in power. He called me up in the middle of a meeting on my cellphone and told me, “Digvijayji, why did you take the trouble to come to Bihar? I am here to look after your party.” Well, he looked after our party so well that our organisation collapsed!
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I am not a political astrologer who can predict how many seats the party will get in this election. But I am confident that we will be able to get more seats than we got last time in the Assembly polls of Assam.
There is also a lot of discontent in your party over the way tickets were distributed and many have left Congress to fight as rebel candidates…
Well, discontent is nothing new for a political party ahead of an election. Yes, some of our leaders have left the party and are fighting as Independents, but they would not pose any serious threat. Take the case of Barak valley. Last time we got just five out of the 15 seats in this area. This time, not many disgruntled elements have posed as rebels. In one seat, however, there is a serious rebel candidate.
The BJP is very confident of winning the elections in Assam. Its leaders say they have the sharpest focus on this state among the five places that go to polls during this season. Almost all top BJP leaders are there to campaign.
I don’t see how the BJP will cross the halfway mark. Yes, at the most, it can gain some seats in the Upper Assam area. But, it will not be able to dent the Congress vote bank. If it gets a few seats in the Upper Assam area like Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, it will come at the expense of the AGP. As I was telling you, the split Opposition doesn’t pose much of a challenge to our campaign.
But one of your allies at the Centre, the Trinamool Congress, is contesting the polls alone and many believe it will cut your votes.
By and large, Assam will be a three-corner contest among the Congress, BJP and AGP. Other parties don’t hold a chance to cut much ice. But even if Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress gets a few seats, what will happen? It will only add to our support in the government. Remember, the Congress doesn’t have an alliance at the national level. We have entered into seat adjustments with some regional parties in their respective states such as the DMK in Tamil Nadu or Trinamool Congress in West Bengal or the NCP in Maharashtra. So anybody and everybody is free to contest polls in this democratic country. Even the NCP, I believe, is contesting in some places.
Tarun Gogoi has recently suffered a heart attack and is not able to campaign in his full flair. This, too, is going to hurt your party.
For the Congress, the image of the chief minister is the biggest advantage. Gogoi is not just seen as a chief minister who is sitting and ruling from Dispur. In Assam there is a term called gaon bura, which means the eldest man in the village. During the past 10 years, Gogoi has built up his image as a gaon bura. People like him. Although he is recovering from the heart operation, he is very much active in the party’s campaign.
This will be the first election after a large section of the banned Ulfa has come across for talks. Ulfa Chairman Arabindo Rajkhowa has surrendered himself for talks. Can the government sustain this peace momentum?
Just as in Jammu and Kashmir, people in Assam too were fed up with violence and they are craving for peace. By and large, this mood is prevailing during the election. This is certainly a positive point for the government and the people are appreciating the state’s initiatives for maintaining peace.
Extremists have no other option but to come out for talks. Issues can be resolved through dialogue and not by the use of guns. Our government is always willing to talk to these people. After all, they are our own people. But yes, we don’t accept any unjustified demand.