The BJP-Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) alliance in the Northeastern state have once again created a dent for the Congress in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. The grand old party, which has seen continuous drubbing in Assam since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls have recently chalked out ‘Mission 80′ strategy to regain grounds in the 2021 Assam Assembly elections against BJP’s mission 100 seats.
Veteran Congress leader and former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi, talking about Congress’ wishful strategies in Assam said that the party should emulate the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) model to establish mass contact.
Lauding RSS model of outreach, Gogoi said on Monday, “we are opposed to the ideology of the RSS but the mass contact programme of the organisation is worth emulating if we have to reach out to people at the grassroots level”.
He said the RSS and its affiliates were working among the people in the state, which is one of the reasons for the BJP’s electoral success in the state. “We also need to do the same in order to gauge the people’s mood and to have a better understanding of their problems and aspirations,” he said.
According to Gogoi, Congress also needs a separate cadre like the RSS to mobilise support for the party.
Hitting out at his party for becoming conceited after being in power in the state for 15 years due to which the BJP had managed to make inroads into the state, Gogoi said, “we became complacent after being in power for three consecutive terms. Now that we are decimated, we must take it as an opportunity, find out mistakes, rectify them and start working with full energy,” he said.
The former CM, identifying ‘dwindling mass contact’ as the reason for Congress’ defeats, said, “I will lead Mission 80 from the front.” Gogoi also said that he was ready to lead the party in 2021 elections, and he was also ready to be the chief ministerial candidate if required.
Congress on Saturday convened an executive meeting where the party dwelt on the Lok Sabha election debacle in the state.
BJP had surpassed its 2014 tally in Assam, securing nine out of the 10 contested seats in the 14 Lok Sabha seat constituency of Assam in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, while Congress had managed just three seats. In 2014 also Congress had met a similar fate as the saffron party had won from seven seats, while the Congress had bagged just three.
