Guwahati: A deep sense of quiet has settled over the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters, Rajiv Bhawan, following a series of resignations by party leaders. Since the exit of former Assam PCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah and the recent resignation of sitting Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi, many leaders and workers — from the district level to the state leadership — have left Congress to join BJP, delivering a body blow ahead of the state election.On Wednesday, when Bordoloi formally joined the BJP in New Delhi, Rajiv Bhawan presented a deserted scene, with only a handful of leaders and workers present.
Amid this atmosphere, veteran Congress figures such as Bolin Kuli, Abdul Hamid and Mohan Basumatary, along with a few other long-time party loyalists, tried to reassure workers who still believe the party can recover and perform strongly in the ongoing election.“Without power, many people cannot survive in politics. Pradyut Bordoloi was an example. But resignation of such leaders will not damage Congress party in the long run,” said veteran Congress leader Bolin Kuli, who has been associated with the party since the 1970s.Kuli, who served as a Congress working committee member in the 1990s, recalled that, like the ongoing phase, he saw the party endure some of its most difficult periods, including the Janata Party wave and the years of the Assam agitation. He also said that he played a role in bringing Bordoloi into the Congress after Bordoloi emerged as a student leader at the then Cotton College, now Cotton University.“I believed that Congress could come back to power if leaders like Bhupen and Pradyut did not betray us. I still have not lost hope,” said Kuli, now 75 and currently entrusted with responsibilities in the political affairs committee of Assam PCC.“We told our young leaders and workers not to get disheartened because such a phase in the Congress is temporary,” he added.Abdul Hamid, 73, a former MP from Dhubri, said, “Those people in Congress who are hand in glove with BJP should leave at the earliest, and this will cleanse the Congress. They have damaged Congress’s image, but their exit from Congress will be very helpful for our genuine young leaders to lead the party in future.”Hamid also said the empty courtyard at Rajiv Bhawan should not be read as unusual, as many party workers are currently occupied with election campaigning in their own constituencies.Bedabrat Bora, chairman of the media department of Assam PCC, said Bordoloi should not have left the party after receiving more than seven lakh votes in Nagaon as a Congress candidate. “There should be a law which can stop lawmakers from changing their parties in the middle of their term of five years. Bordoloi’s exit from the Congress will help another young leader to flourish,” he added.
