It probably needs no elucidation that a feeling of alienation and frustration among religious and ethnic groups in a region is born out of the indifferent, flippant attitude and approach towards their hopes and aspiration. There are a number of complex issues troubling Assam for a pretty long time now. Ever since the country attained independence in 1947, a series of government in the state had come and gone. But, it is ironic that some of them still remained unresolved, one being the migration of large-scale illegal immigrants from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, despite repeated pleadings with the Congress government by the diverse ethnic entities and civil society groups posing grave threat to the very existence of the indigenous Assamese people. This induced a strong sense of deprivation and frustration among large sections of them, which in turn, manifested itself in the protected six-year Assam agitation against the influx of illegal foreign infiltration.

In the first Assembly elections after the BJP's triumph in the Lok Sabha polls in May, the saffron party's electoral juggernaut met with some resistance in Maharashtra and Haryana with a resurgent Congress putting up a good showing in the northern state. With the Congress managing to give the Bharatiya Janata Party a scare in Haryana and winning around the same number seats as it did in 2014 in Maharashtra, these election results will come as a booster shot for the party. Whereas the BJP anticipated the results would be different, but it’s more of an outcome of overconfidence which is worrisome.

Haryana

BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar took the oath of office as Haryana Chief Minister for the second consecutive term. Khattar has begun his 'second innings' in a coalition government with the JJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi handpicked Manohar Lal Khattar as Haryana's chief minister in 2014, the decision took many by surprise. But even as a first-time MLA, he was asked to head the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and literally proved himself the Khiladi of politics.

By the time this story is published you will come to know the results of Assembly by-election in Assam. Four seats that will go to bypolls include, Sonari, Jania, Rangapara and Ratabari.

Jania is a Muslim dominated seat and BJP has no expectation from here as well. But certainly following the publication of final National Register of Citizens (NRC) the ensuing by-elections is a litmus test for the saffron camp.

The verdict will throw light on the likely outcome of the 2021 Assam polls. Karimganj North MLA and one of the senior Congress leaders from Barak Valley Kamalakhya Deypurkayastha while sharing his views on Ratabari bypoll with Eastern Panorama said, “BJP has hoodwinked the Hindu Bengalis in the name of NRC. We are confident of winning Ratabari.”

The CPI (M) in Tripura has faced the challenge for the first time in it’s existence in the state before independence when BJP-IPFT government accused one of it’s senior most leader and longest serving minister Badal Choudhury in Rs 164 Cr scam under PWD during 2008 – 09. While ruling BJP claimed it as a smallest financial scam of 25 –yrs old uninterrupted communist rule in the state, CPI (M) accused Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb of pursuing vendetta politics to secure his chair. Though there was so far no trailing record of money claimed to be siphoned off, the documents showed it was a gross irregularity in the part of the government. Two subsequent actions, one from the part of the government and other from the accused persons made police hostile, which might create disruption in the process of investigation and obvious result. The allegations lost it’s merit at the initial phase when state vigilance authority filed an FIR naming three persons – the then Minister Badal Choudhury, then Principal Secretary PWD who retired as Chief Secretary Y P Singh and then Chief Engineer Sunil Bhowmik under section 418, 409, 420, 201, 120 (B) of Indian Panel Code and section 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act. Immediately police swung into action and arrested Sunil Bhowmik.