The Friend Zone Blahs

With ally troubles mounting, BJP needs some soul-searching ahead of general elections.

- Preetha Nair

Still smarting from the drubbing in three heartland states and facing the greatest challenge from within, the beginning of the election year spells little cheer for the ruling BJP led NDA. Sixteen of its constituents, both big and small, have quit since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014. the latest instance came exactly a week into 2019, when the BJP’s ally in Assam, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) led by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, pulled the plug on the NDA over the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Though the AGP’s exit wouldn’t hurt the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP government in Assam, it will definitely alter the arithmetic in the Lok Sabha polls later this year. It could well be the beginning of the troubles for the BJP in the Northeast as most parties in the region, including its allies such as the National People’s Party (NPP) in Meghalaya and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), oppose the bill and it is likely to prove politically costly for the saffron party.

Putting the blame squarely on the Assam CM and his council of ministers for not thwarting the bill’s passage, the AGP said it’s an anti-people move. “We expected Sonowal to help us and it was his responsibility to raise his voice against the bill that will bring doom to the state,” says AGP president Atul Bora. “Many may think we were there for greed of power, but we wanted to fight staying in the government. And we fought till the last moment.”