It needs mention here that Dr. Singh was first elected to the Rajya Sabha from the State in 1991 when he became the Finance Minister in the Congress Government led by PV Narasimha Rao at the Centre and that subsequently paved the way for his Prime Ministership. Notably, Dr. Singh has been representing the State in the Rajya Sabha since that year – 1991. His nomination was a mere ritual. That he will be in his fifth term as a Parliamentarian goes without saying. The reason is all too evident – the ruling Congress that alone has 79 legislators in the 126 – member House – a number which is enough to retain the seat for the Prime Minister.

For the Prime Minister, however, the May 15th trip to Assam could not have been an enjoyable or joyful one. Dr. Singh filed his nomination and submitted the same to the Returning Officer at the State Assembly Secretariat at Dispur in the presence of a host of Congress party bigwigs including its General Secretary Digvijay Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North East Region (DoNER) Paban Singh Ghatowar, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President Bhubaneshwar Kalita, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and other State ministers. However, for the Prime Minister, the moment for filing his nomination did not seem auspicious. Outside the premises, the air was heavy with protest essentially outshining his visit, that no Prime Minister of the country worth – noting had ever before faced in the State as Dr. Singh did during his sojourn on that very day, by journalists and the All Assam Students Union (AASU).

Here, the question that may have arisen in an inquisitive mind is – Why did the Prime Minister have to face the intense protest by both print and TV journalists outside the premises of the Assembly Secretariat at Dispur as well as the activists of the AASU when he did no wrong during that time as he was just filing his nomination papers for a fifth term in the Rajya Sabha? There are several fundamental reasons that had actually prompted the angry outburst from them.

Coming first to the issue of the journalists, they were eagerly waiting at the approach to the Assembly campus at Dispur for the very moment when they would be able to cover the proceedings of the Prime Minister’s visit there. They got infuriated when they were denied entry into the campus. In protest, they then began squatting in front of the main gate of the Assembly. At one point of time, the situation turned so sticky that even serious efforts by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Cabinet Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, AICC General in – charge of Assam Digvijay Singh and other high – ranking officials to mollify them failed to pay off. When the Prime Minister himself came to the State which he thinks to be his own, however hectic may be his schedule, he could have spent a few moments to express his views and thoughts with those journalists who had gathered with great enthusiasm outside the Assembly complex to cover the very ritual of his filing of nomination papers. It is not unknown to anybody that Assam is a  problem – ridden State. Finding an enduring solution to its host of intractable problems including flood and erosion, ethnic conflicts, the vexed foreigners issue is a must to ensure a peaceful atmosphere in the State. However much hope one may pin on the Prime Minister, we all know that he has no magic wand with him with which he will be able to tackle all the major problems of the State in a decade. Yet he ought to have met with the media persons but to the chagrin of all, he did not utter a single word as to whether his Government has made any decision about Assam’s endemic and decades – old issue of flood being declared as a national problem in the immediate future or whether it is planning to solve this problem.

The question that arises here is – Who denied entry to the Assembly campus for both the print and electronic media on that day? Who chalked out the Prime Minister’s itinerary – the State Government, the State Congress Party or the PM’s Office? An answer to this can be available if there is a little inquiry into the whole episode involving his visit but will this ever be available? It may be noted here that in 2007, when Dr. Singh as Prime Minister came to Assam to file his nomination papers for the fourth time, the local journalists were given access to the Assembly complex. Naturally, the question that still remains unanswered is – Why were they denied entry this time when there was, so far, no direction from either the Election Commission or from any election officer barring the journalists from covering the proceedings? The denial of their entry might have been due to the paranoia of the likelihood that the Prime Minister could be caught on the wrong foot following a volley of questions from the waiting journalists about the rampant corruption eclipsing his UPA II ruling establishment.

Interestingly, the activists of the AASU, like the local journalists, also staged a protest on that day. Indeed, they registered it in an unprecedented way. They put on masks of Manmohan Singh and carried placards of what has been termed as ‘his admission’ of his failure to resolve 15 issues that the State is plagued by. However, whether their intense protest is justified is debatable. It must be noted here however that during this long period, he, as MP and Prime Minister, did hardly anything worth notice for the State as to inspire any hope that it might be on the fast track of development in the not too distant future.

There are about 15 burning issues that have been confronting the State for a long time now which the AASU said still remain unresolved despite Dr. Singh’s promises. Not surprisingly, every time he is approached about these issues, he will say in the same vein that he is committed to resolve the State’s pressing problems. However, at the end of a year, one can see that he has made no effort to resolve any of these issues. The Assam Accord implementation is one of the major demands raised by the AASU. Losing its importance, it has now been reduced to a mere document. The most negative aspect of the global economy is the ongoing mega dam construction in North East India. For a pretty long time now, the people in the region, particularly those in Assam, have been vehemently opposing this. The people in the State have apprehended that the UPA government under the stewardship of Dr. Singh will destroy the centuries – old civilization of the Brahmaputra Valley to protect the interests of the corporate sector by supplying hydro – electricity. The Prime Minister did not seem to have a convincing argument with him to dispel this anxiety. During his visit, it might have reached him that a State – wide strong public opinion was built against him. This is probably why the newsmen were barred from meeting him.

Dwaipayan