Krishanu Sharma, Political Analyst
Guwahati, Oct 14: As the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) marks 41 years since its founding on October 14, 1985, on Wednesday, the occasion invites reflection on how far the party has drifted from its original promise. Born out of the six-year Assam Agitation, the AGP emerged as the political expression of Assamese regionalism, promising to protect indigenous identity, land and political rights. Four decades later, its position as a junior partner in the BJP-led government raises a fundamental question: has the party preserved its regionalist core, or compromised it for electoral survival?
From mass movement to political disarray
The AGP’s early rise was extraordinary. Following the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985, a young Prafulla Kumar Mahanta led the party to power with an absolute majority. The victory represented the transition of a mass movement into electoral politics and raised hopes of a new political direction for Assam.
But governing proved far more difficult than mobilising a movement. The party struggled with administrative challenges, internal rivalries and competing political pressures. Its first government was dismissed in 1990 amid the growing insurgency and political instability. Subsequent splits, including the formation of the Natun Asom Gana Parishad and Mahanta’s AGP (Progressive), further weakened the party and eroded its public credibility.
The divisions exposed a recurring weakness: the AGP’s ability to mobilise popular sentiment was not matched by the organisational discipline needed to sustain a durable political alternative.
The erosion of regionalist principles
The most difficult test of the AGP’s ideological credibility has been its relationship with the BJP. Founded in the aftermath of the Assam Agitation, the party drew its legitimacy from the promise of protecting Assamese identity and implementing the Assam Accord.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) controversy brought this contradiction into sharp focus. In January 2019, the AGP withdrew from the BJP-led state government over the proposed citizenship legislation, presenting its decision as a defence of Assamese identity. Within weeks, however, it returned to the alliance ahead of the elections.
The reversal raised questions about the party’s willingness to uphold its stated principles when confronted with electoral and political calculations. For supporters who viewed the AGP as the custodian of Assamese regional aspirations, the episode was a significant blow to its credibility.
The question is no longer simply whether the AGP should ally with a national party. It is whether the regional party can retain an independent political identity within an alliance where its larger partner dominates the agenda.
A junior partner in a BJP-dominated coalition
Under the leadership of Atul Bora and Keshab Mahanta, the AGP continues to retain a political presence in Assam. Its pockets of electoral influence, including constituencies such as Bokakhat and Kaliabor, provide it with a base that should not be dismissed.
Yet its influence within the ruling coalition appears considerably narrower than the role it once aspired to play in state politics. The BJP commands greater organisational strength and political reach, leaving the AGP with the challenge of demonstrating that it brings more to the alliance than its regional identity and historical legacy.
Critics argue that the party has not been sufficiently assertive on long-standing regional concerns, including the implementation of constitutional safeguards under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, indigenous land rights and the protection of local communities. These issues remain central to the political space from which the AGP emerged.
If the party cannot articulate a distinct position on such questions, it risks allowing the BJP to occupy the regional political ground that once belonged primarily to it.
A legacy without a clear future?
At 41, the AGP faces a challenge that goes beyond electoral arithmetic. Its history remains inseparable from one of Assam’s most consequential mass movements. But historical legitimacy cannot indefinitely substitute for political relevance.
A new generation of voters faces concerns that extend beyond identity politics to employment, education, economic opportunity, migration and environmental pressures. The AGP must show how its regionalist philosophy can address these changing priorities while remaining faithful to the questions of identity, land and constitutional protection that shaped its birth.
The party does not necessarily have to abandon coalition politics to reclaim its relevance. But it must demonstrate that an alliance does not mean political silence, and that participation in government can coexist with independent regional advocacy.
The central test for the AGP is whether it can move beyond commemorating the movement of 1985 and translate its founding ideals into a credible political programme for contemporary Assam. Otherwise, it risks becoming a party sustained by memory, even as the political space it once occupied is claimed by others.
Also read: People to decide on betrayal by 8 MLAs; UDP hit but not out, will fight LS bypoll: Chyne
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