Assam’s mandate of assertion and polarisation

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is set to form the government in Assam for a third consecutive term. In an Assembly of 126 seats, the seat as well as vote share of the incumbent alliance has significantly gone up.

Politics in Assam is marked by great linguistic, religious and ethnic diversity. This has created ample ground for political polarisation in many directions. Historically, the State has undergone various political shifts ranging from Congress dominance till the mid-1970s to the rise of regionalism in the mid-1980s, before returning to Congress dominance in the first decades of the 21st century. The State, once considered a stronghold of the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), has now become a stronghold of the BJP. The present electoral mandate therefore needs to be read as a renewed validation of an already existing political domination, with augmented ideological moorings.