Sangma, Khandu, Gogoi, Gamlin...: Dynastic Clouds Loom Over The Seven Sisters

Azad was a senior member of the Con­g­r­ess and served as the Leader of the Opp­o­s­ition in the Rajya Sabha till February 15, 2021. He had also been the minister of health and family welfare in former prime minister Manmohan Singh바카라�s government from 2009 to 2014. His resign­a­­tion letter castigated the top lea­dership of the party, especially former president Rahul Gandhi, for lack of vision.

바카라�Unfortunately, after the entry of Shri Rahul Gandhi into politics and particularly after January 2013, when he was appointed as Vice President by you, the entire Consultative mechanism which existed earlier was demolished by him,바카라� wrote Azad in his resignation letter.

Sarma, who was sworn in as the 15th chief minister of Assam on May 10, 2021, was a Congress member for over 20 years before quitting the party in 2015.

He had also blamed Rahul Gan­dhi for mismanagement of the party in his resignation letter: 바카라�There is great dearth of inner party democracy in Congress today. When I had humbly told Sri Rahul Gandhi that in front of central observers 52 MLAs out of 79 had categorically and emphatically sought the ouster of Sri Tarun Gogoi, he answered me so arrogantly that it was his prerogative to change Chief Minister. Isn바카라�t it a fact that our Constitution has given power to the MLAs to select a leader of their choice? If that is the constituti­o­nal provision, where from does Sri Rahul Gandhi get the prerogative to choose who will rule the people of Assam?바카라�

Sarma had served as minister of health and family welfare in three consecutive governments of former CM Tarun Gog­oi from 2001. Some people called him 바카라�Tarun Gogoi바카라�s blue-eyed boy바카라�.

But soon after Gogoi inducted his son, Gau­rav, into the Congress in 2014, differences cro­pped up between him and Sarma, say sour­ces. Gogoi started projecting his son as his political heir and future leader of Assam Congress. Sar­ma, an ambitious politician, left the party to  join the BJP in 2015. Ten other Congress members of the Assam Legislative Assembly also went with Sarma.

바카라�Good riddance,바카라� Tarun Gogoi had said.

Political observers claim Sarma바카라�s desertion of the Congress is symptomatic of the leadership crisis in the Northeast. It affects both national and regional parties, most of which are either run by a single leader, or are reeling from workers jumping ship.

바카라�When we were young, we hea­rd names of political leaders such as P.A. Sangma, former CM of Meg­halaya, and Dorjee Khandu, former CM of Arunachal Prad­esh,바카라� says Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, a journalist and member of the Rajya Sabha. 바카라�Now, their sons have become chief ministers.바카라� Sangma바카라�s son Conrad is the curr­ent CM of Meghalaya, while Kha­ndu바카라�s son Pema is the CM of Aru­nachal Pradesh.

바카라�In Assam, the BJP also does not have a second-rung of leaders after Sarma,바카라� added Bhuyan. 바카라�Now, leaders like him run one-man shows in their parties.바카라�

The Congress ruled Assam for 15 straight years from 2001 to 2016. Since then, however, it has lost two consecutive Assembly elections in the state바카라�in 2016 and 2021. Its performance in the Lok Sabha elections, in 2014 and 2019, was lacklustre. The Congress has also lost several by-elections and panchayat polls in the state. In-fighting among party workers, a leadership crisis, and the inability of the party to nurture a younger generation of leaders are affecting its performance at the polls, claim sources.

바카라�The Congress has no dearth of second- or third-generation leaders in Assam,바카라� says Sub­hramitra Gogoi, a young leader of Congress바카라�s Assam unit. 바카라�Former MLA Roselina Tirkey, Assam Youth Congress President Angkita Dut­ta, Sarifa Rahman and Pranjal Ghatowar have been very active at the grassroots level.바카라�

But young leaders also have a tendency to jump ship if they are not allowed to contest polls, says Sub­hramitra, once a close aide of Sarma.

바카라�The party needs to take precautionary mea­s­ures to ensure that young people do not leave it,바카라� he added. But it is not only younger leaders and workers who have left the Congress for better opportunities.

In April this year, Ripun Bora, former presid­ent of the state unit of the Congress, quit the party and joined West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee바카라�s Trinamool Congress (TMC), a new entrant in the state바카라�s political landscape. Bora had unsuccessfully contested the Rajya Sabha polls in March. Sources said his own party members and legislators from their ally, the All India United Demo­cratic Front, voted against him.

Other leaders who have also left the party since 2016 include Sus­h­mita Dev, daughter of former Union minister Santosh Mohan Dev. Sushmita, who was earlier a Lok Sabha member and is curre­ntly a Rajya Sabha member, also joined the TMC in 2021.

Ajanta Neogi, the current mini­ster of finance and social welfare in Sarma바카라�s government, joined the BJP in 2020. Before that, she had served in Tarun Gogoi바카라�s ministry for several years. Her mot­her, Rebati Das, was also an MLA. Pijush Hazarika and Jayanta Mal­labaruah바카라�both current MLAs from the BJP바카라�also left the Congress with Sarma in 2015, despite their family바카라�s long association with the party.

A member of the Congress, who did not want to be named, told Outlook that many second-­generation leaders were too distant from the people in the state. 바카라�Tarun Gogoi was a leader of the masses,바카라� he says. 바카라�Even though he was CM for three terms, he always remained accessible to the people and the party workers.바카라�

바카라�But the leaders from the new generation are not connected to the masses at all. Forget the people, they are not accessible even to party workers.바카라�

Congress leaders, however, do not agree with this assessment. Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee, general secretary of Congress바카라�s Assam unit, says: 바카라�Many young leaders are being given res­ponsibilities in the Congress. We are taking var­ious initiatives like Udaipur Chintan Shivir in May this year, to stir younger workers. They will be given opportunities to prove their leadership in the coming polls.바카라�

It is not only the Congress바카라�other parties, too, are dealing with leaders leaving them. Sar­bananda Sonowal, the former chief minister of Assam, was earlier a member of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), before joining the BJP. Sonowal was elected to the Assembly as an AGP candidate in 2001. However, he left the AGP in 2011 to join the BJP. Since then, he has been elected to the state legislature and the Lok Sabha as a BJP member.

The AGP is an ally of the BJP in the state, even though its regionalist politics seem to be at odds with the latter바카라�s nationalistic politics. Atul Bora, current AGP president, is a member of CM Sarma바카라�s Cabinet.

The party is keen to attract younger people to its ranks. 바카라�A political party is a social organisation first,바카라� says AGP spokesperson Manoj Saikia. 바카라�Over the past three years, various wings of the party, such as Asom Chhatra Par­i­s­had, the student바카라�s wing, or the Yuva Parishad, the youth wing, have been activated at the grassroots.

In Meghalaya, the last Ass­e­m­bly polls in 2018 seemed to be a contest between two families바카라�of CM Conrad San­gma and his predecessor Muk­ul Sangma. Conrad became the CM by leading the National People바카라�s Party (NPP) and its allies to victory in the state Assembly elections in 2018. The NPP secured 20 seats out of 60 in the Assembly, but formed the government with support from the BJP and other parties.

The NPP was established by Conrad바카라�s father P.A. Sangma, a former Lok Sabha Speaker and CM of Meghalaya, in 2012. Conrad has been accused of dynastic politics by his oppone­nts. His brother James is a minister in his Cabinet, and his sister Agatha became the youngest person to be appointed a minister in the Union government in 2009, at the age of 29. She is also the vice president of the NPP.

바카라�Ideologically, we feel that youngsters bring a new dimension of thinking to the field of politics and governance,바카라� Conrad tells Outlook. 바카라�People joining our party feel that they have access to the top leadership of a national party without having to go to Delhi.바카라�

The NPP became the first party from the Northeast to be recognised as a national party in 2019. 바카라�Youth see the NPP as an ideal political platform rooted in their identity and culture,바카라� he added.

Two young leaders who have joined the par­ty recently are Alvin Sawkmie and Bajop Pyn­grope, a former member of the Congress.
Mukul Sangma, who served as CM in the state for eight years, also has several family members in the state assembly바카라�his brother, Zenith, and wife, Dikanchi D. Shira.

In Arunachal Pradesh, too, the political landscape is dominated by second-generation leaders of powerful families. The current CM, Pema Khandu, is the son of former CM Dorjee. While Pema is now a BJP leader, his father was in the Congress.

Similarly, Kiren Rijiju, the law minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi바카라�s Cabinet, is the son of Rinchin Kharu, the first pro-tem spe­a­ker of Arunachal Pradesh.

Another family that influen­ces the politics in the state is the Gamlins. Jarbom Gamlin was briefly the CM of the state in 2011. His siblings, Jarkar, Jarpum and Jarjum Ete, continue to be active in politics.

Jarkar was a cabinet minister in Pema Khandu바카라�s government, before switching allegiance to the NPP. Jarpum has been the general secretary of the BJP바카라�s state unit, while Jarjum Ete was the general secretary of the All India Mahila Congress. When both of them were denied a ticket in the 2019 elections, Jarpum joined the NPP, while Jarjum Ete went to JD-U.

(This appeared in the print edition as "Two Families Each for the Seven Sisters")