By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS
Guwahati : The ruling Congress in Assam has been routed in a little-noticed election to an autonomous tribal council, halting the party’s 10-year victory run at all polls held in the state in a decade.
The debacle has caused concern within the Congress leadership as it gears up to face the staggered panchayat elections starting Dec 31.
The Congress lost the just-concluded elections to the North Cachar Hills Autonomous District Council to a coalition of the local Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It managed to win just three of the 27 elective seats. The results were declared Tuesday.
The ASDC-BJP combine is all set to rule the council, a politico-administrative structure set up in accordance with the constitution’s sixth schedule, covering the militant-infested district in southern Assam, dominated by the majority Dimasa ethnic group.
The margin of defeat has shocked the Congress, which was in control of the council for all but two terms since it was set up in 1954. Moreover, the party’s mascot in the district, former Assam cabinet minister G.C. Langthasa, who was himself in the race to head the council, lost to an ASDC candidate.
The ASDC, a party pressing for the elevation of North Cachar Hills district as well as the adjoining Karbi Anglong district to an autonomous state within Assam, won 12 seats while its partner BJP bagged nine. Independents won three seats, a tally that cannot help the Congress in any way.
The stakes were obviously high for the Congress because it had been winning successive elections in Assam – the Lok Sabha poll in 1998 and in 1999, the assembly poll in 2001, panchayat elections in 2002, the 2003 civic polls, and again the assembly elections in 2006.
However, the Congress in the district has been at the receiving end of a rag-tag militant outfit called Black Widows since the beginning of this year. The rebel group, formed after breaking away from the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD), had openly threatened voters not to support the Congress.
The DHD, a militant group fighting for maximum autonomy for the area’s Dimasa tribe, is currently on a peace mode, having signed a ceasefire agreement with the centre.
A Congress minister and Assam government spokesman, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said the party’s defeat was caused by the assassination of three top leaders in the district, including outgoing council chief Purnendu Langthasa, son of G.C. Langthasa.
“Our party cadres were certainly demoralised by the killings,” Sarma admitted.
The Congress is also bound to take note of the BJP’s inroads into the hill district. At a time when the Congress’ traditional vote bank, the tea garden community, is agitated over the demand for Scheduled Tribe status, the party is gearing up to work overtime to regain the lost base ahead of the panchayat polls.