Ashok Sarma is the second from the ‘old’ or ‘original’ set of leaders who quit the BJP in the last five years. Photo: Facebook/@AshokSarmaBjp
The resignation of a former MLA on Friday has reignited the battle between the ‘original’ and ‘imported’ leaders within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam.
Ashok Sarma, who was the Nalbari MLA from 2016 to 2021, said the lack of respect for elders in the party was the primary reason why he quit the BJP. He was denied a ticket in 2021 and found himself sidelined in the party since.
“I did not leave the BJP during its bad days, nor did I revolt when I was not given the ticket in the 2021 Assembly polls,” he told journalists after submitting his resignation.
“A few who joined the party over the past few years do not know how to respect elders,” Mr. Sarma, who was issued a show-cause notice in May for criticising the BJP’s State leadership, said. He said he would join Congress on August 9.
Mr. Sarma is the second from the ‘old’ or ‘original’ set of leaders who quit the BJP in the last five years. The first was former MP Ram Prasad Sharma who left after he was denied a ticket to contest the Tezpur parliamentary constituency in 2019.
The ex-MLA’s resignation coincided with the second closed-door meeting veteran BJP leader Rajen Gohain held with disgruntled senior party leaders in Golaghat. Mr. Gohain, a former Union Minister, had a similar meeting with other party veterans of eastern Assam in Tinsukia on July 31. He did not disclose what was discussed in the two meetings.
Friday’s developments have triggered speculations about the BJP house not being in order with less than two years to go before the next Assembly elections.
Reacting to the former MP’s meetings, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said: “We are not worried about who is going where but they should remain good Hindus. The Hindu society of Assam is at stake.”
The Chief Minister and many MLAs who defected from Congress in 2015 and thereafter are referred to as ‘new’ BJP leaders while those who strengthened the party since the 1980s are called the ‘old’ leaders.
Ahead of this year’s Lok Sabha election, Mr. Gohain had publicly criticised the 2023 delimitation exercise that changed the demographic composition of Nowgong (now Nagaon), the Lok Sabha seat he represented four times from 1999-2019.
Another BJP leader, Manoj Kumar Mahanta, appealed to eight former presidents of the party to examine why the senior leaders want to quit the party. He said appropriate measures should be taken to arrest this tendency.
“The BJP is enjoying power in Assam for the second successive term because of the hard work and sacrifice of thousands of its workers. Unfortunately, the party seems to be on the path of disintegration now,” he said.
