Has AGP Lost Its Sheen? An Overview

Those who have even the least bit knowledge about the politics of Assam, would be very well acquainted with Assam’s very own political party, Assam Gana Parishad (AGP). The very existence of AGP came into being after the six year long Assam Agitation against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

- Dwaipayan Dasgupta

The agitation was initiated by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) in 1979, with a peaceful democratic movement, where the body demanded clear detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshis. This was majorly to save the identity and existence of Assam, its indigenous people and also the language. The movement continued for years, after which AASU constituted Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AGSP) consisting representatives of various organizations.

Finally, after the signing of the historical Assam Accord with the government of India in New Delhi on August 15 1985, the need of a regional political party was felt and thus Assam Gana Parishad (AGP) came into being on October 14, 1985.

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta became the first president of the newly formed political party. The party contested elections in December the same year and surprisingly, formed the government. AGP again came into power in 1996 to 2001, thus Mahanta served as the CM for two terms, 1985 to 1990 and then again from 1996 to 2001.

But over the years, the party came under the scanner a lot of time owing to charges of massive corruption due to which, they gradually lost people’s faith in them.

The AGP had also witnessed its house having been in the disheveled state, with a number of defection and vertical splits in most cases with several party bigwigs breaking away from the parent organization to form separate political entities, with virtually no electoral future of their own.