The emergence of new forces in Assam’s political scene has stirred a debate about who is best suited to nurture the new cradle of regionalism and rear it to growth.
The two potent influential local forces - All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) - are locked in a bitter battle of words over their claims on influencing the psyche of the indigenous population of the state with the regionalism pitch.
While KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi is pitching for a united regional front, AASU, on the other hand, has adopted a “go alone” stance.
Clearly, lines are drawn ahead of the assembly elections and it looks like it will be a rift within rift ahead of the assembly elections to chart out a clear path of regional politics in Assam which was marred with the dismal showing by Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) at the governance level.
The progression from a student body to a political force is riddled with thrones for AASU as also the KMSS both of which till now were apolitical forces causing stir among other political parties on various issues plaguing the state.
The new regional political outfit has to debunk the thought process that Assamese regionalism is based on emotions and sentiments rather than commitments.
Fresh questions had arisen about the relevance of regional parties like the AGP after the recent NRC updation exercise.
On a similar front, doubts now are also being raised on the power of a regional party with core local values to influence the central government on issues like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
So all these issues raise pertinent questions on how AASU or KMSS, in their new avatars as election oriented parties, can convince their followers to keep their local flavour intact politically without diluting on their core principles.
Or will they run out of steam before the race starts politically? Putting in context their political goal to followers and reclaim the lost ground of local appeal will be their biggest challenge.