AGP’s dual stand – The tale of Power vs. Regionalism

Guwahati, January 2, 2019:

Amidst the uproar of implementing the proposed controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, people of Assam have once again been pushed to the pit by their very own regional leaders whom the people of this state have been looking up to.

The embarrassing part of the story is that two of the senior most leaders of the “Biggest regional party of Assam” have found themselves on different pages of the same book when it came to taking a stand on the much debated Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

It has been noticed that a few months back the “Biggest regional party of Assam”- Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) chief Atul Bora was making headlines stating the party under no circumstances he will support the Bill and if amended, it would move out of the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prior to the Panchayat election.

However, many claimed it to be a publicity stunt of the AGP chief to gain public sympathy and strengthening their vote bank.

On the other hand, these allegations seem to be turning into a harsh reality. The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) is scheduled to meet on January 3 for finalising its report to be submitted to the Parliament which has already made its stand for the Bill.

The controversy began as one the leaders of the same party (AGP) stands against the Bill while the other one is in a dilemma to make any statement clearing his stand.

Speaking to InsideNE, AGP Chief Atul Bora refused to make any comments on the issue and said, “I cannot make any statement right now. I have already made statements in a leading media channel yesterday, however I assure that I will be giving my statement in the evening today.”

In contrary to that, former Chief Minister of Assam and senior AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was seen taking part in protests staged against the Bill with a bunch of people since the beginning of the controversy.

What is it that bothers Atul Bora to make any statement on the Bill presently and what differences would it make later in the evening? Does the greed for holding power in hand have paralysed the sense of regionalism that the party claimed for?

Let’s see what comes out of the closet in the evening.