Home Adivasis AIUDF: The broken dreams and lost hopes of minorities in Assam

AIUDF: The broken dreams and lost hopes of minorities in Assam

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Guwahati: For Ashraful Hussain, the party was a ray of hope for the downtrodden and underprivileged people of the society. Now, he is quite dejected and rather angry at times. He hoped finally somebody was there to take care of the neglected minorities of the state but after several years it turned out to be another broken dream.

Assam’s political party All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) had promised a lot when it was born in 2005 but years after it has failed to live up to the expectation of the people. Several prominent scholars and leaders who were associated with the party at the time of its birth side-lined themselves for several reasons.

AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal

“Since the day of its inception we could believe that at least there is somebody to take care of the marginalized section of the society especially the minorities. In fact we had a great faith on the party. But over the years it has miserably failed to address the problems of the people to whom it had promised,” assessed Ashraful Hussain, a youth from a remote part of Assam’s Barpeta district.

Somebody like Ashraful is also not happy with the role it played as an opposition in the state assembly with its 18 MLAs in the house. (Now, its 17 after the suspension of one MLA) In the Lok Sabha it has an MP in the form of party president Badruddin Ajmal who represents Dhubri constituency.

“Some of its MLAs have no basic quality to be in that position. We are not at all satisfied with its role as the opposition. There are lotmany things to be done but they are just not doing anything in that regard. This is a point we have failed to understand. We don’t know what kind of politics the party is doing,” Ashraful who is an activist added.

AIUDF is also often accused of trying to do a family based politics instead of doing welfare of the public. This was much visible when Badruddin Ajmal’s brother Sirajuddin Ajmal was fielded to contest from Barpeta parliamentary constituency against the wish of the local people including the MLAs of AIUDF.

It’s a serious development which has helped the party to lose its credibility and acceptability among the people. Ajmal, the sitting MP from Dhurbi is most likely to retain his seat but the development of the constituency is a serious issue. It has a good start which enabled them to win 18 seats in the assembly election in their second time but gradually the real character was exposed. Ajmal established and became the founding president of AIUDF – a political party formed by different suppressed sections of society and under-privileged religious and linguistic minority groups in Assam aimed at protecting their democratic rights and to empower these segments – in 2005.

Later it was re-launched in other states of India in 2009. In 2006 state assembly the party won 10 seats in its maiden electoral fight. Even the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU), a students’ body of the state has also brought serious allegation on the party. AAMSU said that AIUDF has been using the religion for their political gain.

“If AIUDF really wants to develop the minority community, they should work in educating and eradicating poverty among the people who are living in many rural areas and in char (river side) areas across the state. They would use the name of Allah to collect their votes. This is not at all acceptable in a democracy,” AAMSU general secretary Rejaul Sarkar Karim told TwoCircles.net.

Once AAMSU even threatened the AIUDF to bar from entering in the minority dominated areas of the state in charge of fooling poor people. There are several serious issues besides the basic problems of the state of eradicating poverty and providing education like the problem of Doubtful or D voters and solving the illegal migrants issue in the state. But the people have felt cheated by the party on these issues unlike their promises.

“AIUDF’s performance is not up to the mark. The major issues faced by the community still remain same as it was before the emergence of AIUDF. The party miserably failed to raise the issues of D Voter, violation of civil and human rights, issues of Internally Displaced Persons induced by erosion, flood, ethnic cleansing etc in appropriate platform,” said Abdul Kalam Azad, a post graduate student of Tata Institute of Social Science who has done several projects with the char dwelling people.

“Besides, the party couldn’t manage to challenge the faulty NRC updating modalities before the Supreme Court. But at individual level, a few did well. MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed’s voice in the assembly has shown a ray of hope for the community. Unfortunately, he is being sidelined by the party,” Kalam added.

Many had hoped that at least with the emergence of AIUDF, the people would get a relief from harassing as an illegal citizen but that too did not materialize.

“Many people from the minority community especially those who are poor struggle hard to get an Indian identity. Very often they are labelled as Bangladeshi. More than 1 lakh people have been denied the right of voting by labelling them as D voters without any basis.

Moreover, thousands are internally displaced due to devastating river erosion. But there is not any proper way to solve all these,” said Shanoor Rahman a medical student at Guwahati Medical College Hospital. Recently, the party was also slammed by many for its religious comments on any occasions. The party chief Ajmal’s statement that Allah would not forgive if BJP wins a seat in Assam drew heavy criticism from different sections of people.

The scholars and intellectuals also did not like the idea of chanting religious hymns to sanctify waters during his election rallies. “It’s an election gimmick and unethical. This should not be done in election rallies. It is not at all acceptable to blend religion with politics to fool the poor people to win their votes. Whoever has done it is a very bad example of Islam,” said senior advocate and state president of Samajwadi party Haifz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury.

AIUDF’s alliance with Congress at the centre is also questioned by many. Senior journalist Daya Nath Singh said that at times the party has lost its track due to personal goals of its top leaders. “When it allies with Congress at the UPA government, it becomes difficult for the party here in Assam to raise strong voice against Congress to get the problems of minorities solved. Over all I feel that the party has failed to fulfill its promises,” Singh added.

Kids at a char area in Dalgaon

However, the AIUDF leaders are not ready to accept these allegations. Party spokesperson Haidar Hussain Bora told TwoCircles.net that the party has done its best to solve the problems of the minorities. Bora said that party chief has already utilized the MP fund of Rs 19 crore for the welfare of the constituency. “Starting from the school teachers and Urdu teachers to constructing bridges, Ajmal saab has done his best. AIUDF is the only party to raise voice and lodge complaint with the Prime Minister and President of the problems faced by the state including flood, erosion and others. All the allegations are false,” Bora said.

Although due to its rabid political rhetoric, AIUDF may not enjoy the respect of the intelligentsia, but its support base is the illiterate, poor Muslims of the state, and in all likelihood they may win their support although they seriously failed to deliver on their past promises.