GUWAHATI , 4 October 2005— Muslim groups in Assam yesterday formed a new political party with a pledge to oust the ruling Congress party from power in the upcoming assembly elections.
Twelve prominent Muslim organizations, led by the Assam chapter of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind, formed the United Democratic Front (UDF) at a political convention in Assam’s main city, Guwahati.
“We shall see to it that the Congress party and its chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, are taught a lesson during the elections. We shall give Congress a run for its money in the elections,” Arshad Madani, vice president of All India Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind, told the convention.
Muslims in Assam, who account for about 30 percent of the state’s 26 million people, have for decades been at the center stage of electoral politics as the community holds the key in at least 40 of the 126 assembly constituencies.
The Muslims and Bengali-speaking linguistic minority voters in Assam have traditionally been Congress supporters. “It is indeed a sad day for us as we are speaking against the Congress party with whom we share a strong bond for more than a century now. But we cannot remain silent as the Congress government led by Gogoi is working against the interests of the minorities,” Madani said.
The decision to form a political party by the minority groups came in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in July to repeal the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, which was applicable only in Assam.
The 22-year-old act was replaced by the Foreigners Act of 1946.
“We shall mobilize all our resources throughout the state to ensure the defeat of Congress,” Badruddin Azmal, president of the UDF, said.
“Congress betrayed the interests of the minorities by not defending the IMDT act in the Supreme Court the way it should have been done,” he said.
Assam goes to the polls early next year.
The UDF is yet to announce if it would forge an electoral alliance with any political party. “We are having negotiations with secular parties although nothing is finalized yet,” UDF leader Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury said.
The UDF might come to some electoral understanding with the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
The formation of the UDF could alter political equations in Assam ahead of the elections, with Congress likely to be at the receiving end.
Chief Minister Gogoi recently said his party would win the election without the support of the Jamiat, whose leaders had campaigned for Congress in past elections.
