THE REVOLVING DOOR

Rising defections underline how politics is increasingly shaped by interests than ideology

- BY PRATUL SHARMA

On March 22, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma travelled to Haflong, a picturesque hill town, with a twin purpose: to campaign for the BJP candidate and to talk to his cabinet colleague Nandita Gorlosa, who had been denied a ticket from the seat. He promised a slew of measures for the region, including the creation of two new districts, but could not mollify Gorlosa, one of only two women ministers in his cabinet. Within hours, she quit the BJP, joined the Congress, and filed her nomination from the same constituency. For the Congress, it was a moment of vindication. The party had managed to poach a BJP leader from the very organisation that had spent a decade steadily cannibalising it. On the other side are Congress leaders who have switched to the BJP and are contesting elections. Former state president Bhupen Kumar Borah and Pradyut Bordoloi, who vacated the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat, both claimed they had been “marginalised and humiliated” within the Congress. “The BJP family is helping us win elections. We will win,” Bordoloi said.

Bordoloi’s seat, Dispur—the administrative capital of Assam—has become a battleground and an example of how politics is changing across the country. Opposing him is Mira Borthakur Goswami, the Congress candidate and state women’s cell in-charge—ironically, a former BJP spokesperson who switched in 2021. “Bordoloi will take time to understand the BJP. The cadre may not support him as he is not from here,” she said. The third key figure in the contest is Jayanta Das, who left the BJP to contest as an independent after Bordoloi was given the ticket.

It is a pattern being repeated across states heading to the polls, raising an old and uncomfortable question: is ideology already dead?