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Asom Gana Parishad

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Not to be confused with Assam Jatiya Parishad.
Asom Gana Parishad
AbbreviationAGP
LeaderPrafulla Kumar Mahanta
PresidentAtul Bora
SecretaryRamendra Narayan Kalita
FounderPrafulla Kumar Mahanta
Bhrigu Kumar Phukan
Biraj Kumar Sarma
Founded14 October 1985 (39 years ago) (1985-10-14)
HeadquartersAGP Complex, Gopinath Bordoloi Road, Ambari, Guwahati - 781001
Student wingAsom Chatra Parishad
Youth wingAsom Yuva Parishad
Women's wingAsom Mahila Parishad
Peasant's wingAsom Krishak Parishad
IdeologyAssamese nationalism[1][2]
Right-wing populism
Political positionRight-wing
ECI StatusState Party[3]
AllianceNEDA (2016–2019, 2019–present)
NDA (2016–2019, 2019–present)
Seats in Lok Sabha
1 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha
1 / 245
Seats in Assam Legislative Assembly
8 / 126
Election symbol

Elephant
Party flag
Website
https://agpofficial.in

Asom Gana Parishad (translation: Assam People's Council, abbr. AGP) is a political party in the state of Assam, India. The AGP was formed following the historic Assam Accord of 1985[4] and formally launched at the Golaghat Convention held from 13 to 14 October 1985 in Golaghat,[5] which also allowed Prafulla Kumar Mahanta who was  the youngest chief minister of the state to be elected. The AGP has formed government twice once in 1985 then again in 1996. The popularity of AGP surged in the late 1980s but declined in the 2000s.[6] After a 20-year gap, AGP, in alliance with NDA, won a Lok Sabha seat in 2024.[7]

The party split in 2005, with former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta forming the Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive), but regrouped on 14 October 2008 in Golaghat.[8]

It won 14 seats out of 126 in the 2016 Legislative Assembly Elections, coming to power after a long gap. It was a partner in a coalition with the Bodoland People's Front and Bharatiya Janata Party.[9]

Currently it is a part of North-East Regional Political Front consisting of political parties of the northeast that has supported the National Democratic Alliance (India). As of 2021, the party is likely to form an alliance with BJP in coming assembly elections as well.[10]

AGP leaders from left to right namely Brindaban Goswami,Ramendra Narayan Kalita,Keshab Mahanta,Birendra Prasad Baishya etc.

History

[edit]

AGP was a result of a six-year-long civil unrest in Assam, known as The Assam Agitation, led by All Assam Students' Union,[11] Due to illegal infiltration of foreigners from Bangladesh into the state Assam citizens had raised concerns about illegal infiltration of migrants from neighboring Bangladesh (East Pakistan until 1972), as they feared that it is altering the demographic, social and economic make-up of the state.

In 1979, AASU led what started as a nonviolent campaign to highlight illegal immigration into the state, but later descended into violence. The AASU, joined by the AGSP demanded detection and disenfranchisement of all illegal migrants in the state, and deportation of all immigrants entering the country from 1951 on under the laws of the land. One of the most serious outcomes of the ethnic violence that ensued came to be known as the Nellie massacre when anti-immigrant groups attacked and killed at least 2,000 Muslim, Bengali immigrants.[12] The agitation lasted from 1979 to 1985, and caused tension and hostility during the assembly Election in 1983.

AASU then constituted the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) which consisted of representatives of various organizations including the Asom Sahitya Sabha, two regional political parties – Asom Jatiyabadi Dal and Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad, the Sadau Asom Karmachari Parishad, Asom Jatiyabadi Yuva-Chatra Parishad, Asom Yuvak Samaj, All Assam Central and semi-Central Employees’ Association etc.

Several rounds of discussions with successive governments in New Delhi. The accord was signed between the government, represented by prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and representatives of the AASU.

The State Assembly was then dissolved and the Congress government headed by Hiteswar Saikia, who came to power in February 1983, was dismissed.

The Golaghat National Convention, held in Golaghat on 13–14 October 1985 determined that a regional political party similar to Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) should be formed and the Asom Gana Parishad was launched in Golaghat on 14 October 1985.

The central executive committee of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) had been dissolved at a convention in North Lakhimpur in September, and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, the president of the AASU, was elected the president of the presidium of the new political party. Asom Jatiyabadi Dal and the Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad also merged with AGP. Members from other organizations joined the party.

The AGP contested the State Assembly elections held in December 1985 and swept the polls by winning 67 of the 126 seatsin addition to capturing seven of the 14 Lok Sabha (Parliament) seats thus forming the Government of Assam. The party won the election and formed a government again in 1996.

Party leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta served as the Chief Minister of Assam for two terms, first from 1985 to 1990 and again from 1996 to 2001. Asom Gana Parishad was a part of the National Front government from December 1989 to November 1990.

AGP Member of Parliament Dinesh Goswami was the Union Minister of Law and Justice in the V. P. Singh Ministry. The party also took part in the United Front governments headed by H. D. Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral. Party leaders Birendra Prasad Baishya and Muhi Ram Saikia took office as Union Minister of Steel and Mines and the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development respectively in the United Front governments.

The party began losing ground in the 2010s; from 67 seats in the assembly in 1985 and 59 in 1996, the AGP's strength in the assembly came down to 14 seats in 2016.[13] Once a formidable force, it has been sidelined by the Bodoland People's Front and the AIUDF of Badruddin Ajmal. Currently, the party has only 9 M.L.A in the Legislative Assembly of Assam.AGP was criticised by AASU for supporting CAA in 2019.[13]

Internal splits and mergers

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The AGP in March 1991 underwent a split when party general secretary and former Assam Home Minister Bhrigu Kumar Phukan, former Union Law Minister and MP Dinesh Goswami, former state Education Minister Brindaban Goswami, Assam Legislative Assembly speaker Pulakesh Barua and others formed the Natun Asom Gana Parishad (natun means new in Assamese). This fraction came back to the party fold in 1992.

In 2000, former Assam PWD minister and senior party leader Atul Bora (Senior) moved away along with Pulakesh Barua and formed Trinamool Gana Parishad.

After the second AGP Government's reign under Prafulla Kumar Mahanta came to an end and Congress regained power, numerous allegations were raised against him related to the corruption during his tenure, government's involvement in secret killings, and Mahanta's overall inactive leadership. These led to his demotion from being President of the party and later he was expelled from the party on 3 July 2005 after being accused of anti-party activities. Mahanta then formed his own party, Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive).

In 2008, a process started to reconcile the differences among all the breakaway fractions and to bring back everybody under the mother party umbrella to strengthen the regional party movement in Assam. Finally, on 14 October 2008, all breakaway groups reconciled in one umbrella at the historic town Golaghat. Prafulla Mahanta merged his AGP(P) with it. Atul Bora and Pulakesh Barua merged their TGP with the AGP and farmer leader and former legislator of Patacharkuchi, Pabindra Deka too merged the Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad (PLP) with it.

Splits from AGP

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In 2011, firebrand youth leader Sarbananda Sonowal resigned from all executive posts within AGP and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, due to dissatisfaction with and amongst the senior leadership of the party who were trying to forge an alliance with a party that was against the scrapping of the controversial IMDT Act. "The AGP was born out of the illegal foreigners' issue after the six-year-long Assam agitation; 855 people laid down their lives in the agitation. However, the party has failed to honor the sacrifice of the martyrs by deviating from its principles. But I have no grievances against the dedicated grassroots-level workers. Since the AGP has failed to tackle the illegal migrants' problem, I've joined the BJP keeping in mind the interest of the people of Assam and the fact that I'll be able to highlight the problems and issues of the state at the national level," Sonowal, the former AGP general secretary, said.

On 8 February 2011, Sonowal joined Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of the then BJP National President Nitin Gadkari and senior leaders like Varun Gandhi, Vijay Goel, Bijoya Chakravarty and state BJP president Ranjit Dutta. He was immediately appointed a member of the BJP National Executive and then later on State Spokesperson of the state BJP unit, prior to his current assignment to head the state as the new president.

Again on 3 July 2013, senior party leader Atul Bora once again left the party and joined BJP.

Electoral performance

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Assam Legislative Assembly

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Election Seats Votes Vote Percentage
1991
19 / 126
 New 17.93%
1996
59 / 126
 Increase 40 29.70%
2001
20 / 126
 Decrease39 20.02%
2006
24 / 126
 Increase 4 20.39%
2011
10 / 126
 Decrease14 16.29%
2016
14 / 126
 Increase4 8.1%
2021
9 / 126
 Decrease5 7.91%

Loksabha

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Election Seats Votes Vote Percentage
1984
8 / 543
 As Independent Candidates
1989 Election not held
1991
1 / 543
 1,489,898 0.54
1996
5 / 543
 2,560,506 0.76
1998
0 / 543
 1,064,977 0.29
1999
0 / 543
 1,182,061 0.32
2004
2 / 543
 2,069,600 0.53
2009
1 / 543
 1,773,103 0.43
2014
0 / 543
 577,730 0.10
2019
0 / 543
 1,480,697 0.24
2024
1 / 543
 1,298,707 0.20

2016-present

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In May 2016, after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance which included parties like Asom Gana Parishad and Bodoland People's Front formed its first government in Assam, and formed a new alliance called the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) with Himanta Biswa Sarma as its convener. The Chief Ministers of the north eastern states of Sikkim and Nagaland also belong to this alliance. Thus, the Asom Gana Parishad joined the BJP led NEDA.[14]

In November 2016, Atul Bora was elected for President of Asom Gana Parishad second time amending party's constitution ‘one man one post’ as he is also minister of Agriculture, Horticulture and Food Processing, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary in Sarbananda Sonowal Ministry.[15]

In January 2019, they broke an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 but in March 2019 the party returned to North-East Democratic Alliance for the Lok Sabha election. As per the agreement, AGP contested on 3 seats, Bodoland People's Front at one and Bharatiya Janata Party on ten seats.[16][17]

Leadership

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List of Presidents

No.[a] Name Portrait Term Constituency
1 Prafulla Kumar Mahanta Nowgong
3. Thaneswar Boro Rangiya
2. Brindaban Goswami
September, 2001 – 21 September 2008 Tezpur
4. Chandra Mohan Patowary
Chandra Mohan Parowary in left corner with P. Radhakrishnan.
 21 September 2008 – 14 May 2011 Dharmapur
(1) Prafulla Kumar Mahanta
14 May 2011-15 July 2014 Barhampur
5. Atul Bora
15 July- Incumbent Bokakhat

List of Working Presidents

No.[b] Name Portrait
1 Bhrigu Phukan
3. Keshab Mahanta

List of Chief Ministers

No.[c] Name Portrait Ministries Constituency Term of office[18]
From To Days in office
1 Prafulla Kumar Mahanta First Mahanta ministry Nowgong 24 December 1985 28 November 1990 4 years, 339 days
Second Mahanta ministry Barhampur 15 May 1996 17 May 2001 5 years, 2 days

List of Leaders of Opposition

No.[d] Name Portrait & Term
1 Prafulla Kumar Mahanta 4 September 2010 - 14 July 2014
2. Brindaban Goswami
3 Chandra Mohan Patowary
5 September 2007 – 5 September 2010

Members in Rajya Sabha

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Rajya Sabha members AGP
Name Portrait State Appointment date Retirement date
Birendra Prasad Baishya
B.P. Baishya in between Keshab Mahanta and Atul Bora
 Assam
Kumar Deepak Das
Kumar Deepak Das in the left corner.
Parag Chaliha
Joyasree Goswami Mahanta
Bhadreswar Buragohain
David Ledger
Bijoya Chakravarty
Arun Kumar Sarmah
Nagen Saikia

Members in Lok Sabha

[edit]
Lok Sabha members from AGP
Name Portrait Term Constituency State
Parag Chaliha 1985-1989 Jorhat Assam
Dinesh Goswami 1985-1989 Guwahati
Gakul Saikia 1985-1989 Lakhimpur
Muhi Ram Saikia 1984-1989, 1991-1996, 1996-1998 Nowgong
Prabin Chandra Sarma 1996-1998 Guwahati
Keshab Mahanta
1996-1998 Kaliabor
Arun Kumar Sarmah Lakhimpur
Sarbananda Sonowal
2004-2009 Dibrugarh
Birendra Prasad Baishya
fourth from left side,in middle between Keshab Mahanta and Atul Bora.
 1996-1998 Mangaldoi
Joseph Toppo 2009-2014 Tezpur
Ataur Rahman 1985-1989 Barpeta
Bhadreswar Tanti 1985-1989 Kaliabor
Saifuddin Ahmed 1985-1989 Mangaldoi
Phani Bhusan Choudhury
2024-incumbent Barpeta

State Ministers

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Ministers under Sarbananda Sonowal

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List of AGP Ministers in Sonowal ministry(5-December-2016-
Nos. Portrait Ministers CM
Cabinet Minister
Sarbananda Sonowal
1.
Atul Bora
2.
Keshab Mahanta
3.
Phani Bhusan Choudhury

Ministers under Himanta Biswa Sarma

[edit]
List of AGPMinisters in Sarma ministry(5-December-2016-
Nos. Portrait Ministers CM
Cabinet Minister
1.
Atul Bora
2.
Keshab Mahanta

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
  2. ^ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
  3. ^ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.
  4. ^ A parenthetical number indicates that the incumbent has previously held office.

References

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  1. ^ Dipak Kumar Sarma. "Negotiating Factionalism: The case of the Asom Gana Parishad" (PDF). Dipak Kumar Sarma.
  2. ^ Dipak Kumar Sarma – Research Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Assam (February 2012). "Different Paradigm on Factional Politics: Reference to Asom Gana Parishad". Centre for Environment, Education and Economic Development (CEEED), Assam.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  4. ^ Baruah, Sanjib (November 1986). "Immigration, Ethnic Conflict, and Political Turmoil--Assam, 1979-1985". Asian Survey. 26 (11): 1184–1206. doi:10.2307/2644315. JSTOR 2644315.
  5. ^ Indranil Banerjie (17 January 2014). "Birth of AGP leads to Assam being divided into two irreconcilable camps". India Today.
  6. ^ "Assam in the late 1980s and gives an analysis of the rise and decline of AGP in the 2000s".
  7. ^ "Lok Sabha Elections 2024: With rise and fall of regional parties, Assam sees shift in politics prior to '26 Assembly polls".
  8. ^ Samir K. Purkayastha (15 October 2008). "AGP unification amid scepticism – Sections still unsure about party fortunes". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018.
  9. ^ "A reversal of fortunes for AGP, BJP since poll debut in 1985".
  10. ^ Singh, Bikash. "Asom Gana Parishad to contest assembly polls in alliance with BJP". The Economic Times. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  11. ^ Official Website Archived 9 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Sonowal, Kalyan (2017). "Nellie Massacre 1983". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 78: 1186–1192. JSTOR 26906198.
  13. ^ a b "How BJP has reduced AGP, leading party of Assamese aspiration, into a crumbling hanger-on". The Print. 7 March 2021.
  14. ^ HT Correspondent (25 May 2016). "Amit Shah holds meeting with northeast CMs, forms alliance". Hindustan Times. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  15. ^ Atul Bora AGP president for second term
  16. ^ BJP, AGP back together after 2-month divorce
  17. ^ AGP to fight Lok Sabha polls with BJP in Assam
  18. ^ Chief Ministers Archived 16 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine from the Assam Assembly website
  19. ^ "Members : Lok Sabha". loksabha.nic.in. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
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