News Analysis India

Tag: Tarun Gogoi

  • Congress versus BJP: Who has fared better in crime control in Assam?

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: More cases of crime against women were recorded in Assam during the five years of Sarbananda Sonowal’s BJP government compared to the previous five years of Tarun Gogoi’s Congress government.

    Sharing the data of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index and Dashboard 2020-21, the Congress in Assam said 82,957 cases of crime against women were recorded during Gogoi’s last term (2011-16) compared to 1,00,835 cases during Sonowal’s term (2016-2021).

    The crimes included rape, trafficking, dowry deaths, cruelty by husband, kidnapping, molestation etc.

    Overall, 4,46,119 cases of crime were recorded in the state during 2011-2016 compared to 5,97,095 during 2016-2021. It is an increase of 1,30,976 cases.

    ALSO READ | COVID-19: Assam forms 2,000 teams to vaccinate 3 lakh people daily

    “…The report released on 4th June by NITI Aayog on SDG performance reveals that Assam ranked near the bottom among the large states of the country. The duties and the responsibilities of an elected government are to ensure safety and security which can well be meaningful when the criminal activities are down and controlled,” the Congress said.

    “But unfortunately, the reality is that in Assam, the criminal activities related to women have gone up sky-touching during the tenure of BJP government,” the Congress said.

    The party also said “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” was one of the principal slogans using which the BJP earned big public support but it turned into a “big joke and jumla” as crime against women continued unabated.

    “Another tragic point is that Assam’s maternal mortality rate is 215 against per one lakh population. It is only 43 in Kerala. The global SDG target aims to reduce it to less than 70 by 2030,” the Congress said.

    Similarly, the party said, Assam’s infant mortality rate is 47 against 1,000 children compared to Kerala’s 10.

  • Once blue-eyed boy of Tarun Gogoi, Himanta Sarma gets reward for expanding BJP in Northeast

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI:  BJP strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma who will take over as the chief minister of Assam on Monday is the architect of the BJP’s success not just in Assam, but the entire Northeast. 

    It has been a long wait for Sarma, who was once the blue-eyed boy of Tarun Gogoi, the former Congress CM of the state.

    Within the Congress, he was seen as a natural successor to Gogoi. However, the two had fallen out with each other following Gogoi’s US-educated son Gaurav’s emergence in the Assam’s political landscape.

    Sarma eventually left Congress after being upset about not being given the place that he deserved despite having won the support of a large majority of the party MLAs during the 2014-15 dissent within the party.

    The BJP did not commit the same mistake. It has rewarded him for all that he has achieved for the party.

    Born into a highly-educated family on February 1, 1969 in Jorhat, Sarma had started his political career with the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).

    He served the Cotton College Union Society as its general secretary for three terms in 1988-89, 1989-90 and 1991-1992.

    He is a post-graduate in political science, an LLB and a PhD. Former CM Hiteswar Saikia could see the spark in Sarma and asked him to join the Congress in the first half of 1990s.

    Noting his ability as a minister and his political wisdom, observers say Sarma should have become the Assam CM long back. After falling out with Gogoi, he had joined the BJP in 2015.

    After the 2016 polls, the BJP formed a non-Congress conglomerate of political parties called North East Democratic Alliance and made him its convenor.

    He has not only contributed to the prowess of the BJP in Assam but also consolidated the party’s organisational base across the region.

    A master election strategist, who is widely known for his political acumen, he was instrumental in the BJP’s victory in Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

    Sarma had played a key role in toppling the Peoples’ Party of the Arunachal government in 2016 when 33 of its 43 MLAs, led by CM Pema Khandu, joined the BJP.

    He did not stop there. The next year, he helped the BJP form a government for the first time in Manipur. 

    The most powerful politico in the region 

    Considered by many to be the most powerful politician of the entire Northeast region, 52-year-old Sarma is equally revered by supporters for his capabilities and reviled by critics for being over-ambitious.

  • Inability to garner trust leads to failure of alliance in Assam

    By Express News Service
    GUWAHATI:  The hotchpotch alliance of 10 opposition parties with contrasting ideologies, which also had no chief ministerial face, found few takers eventually.

    The “Mahajot”, formed two months ago to oust BJP, was led by Congress. It faced a leadership crisis and got riddled with factionalism following the death of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

    The Congress and minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) had come together to thwart the split of anti-BJP and anti-Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) votes. In 2016, their combined vote share was more than the winning candidates of the BJP-led alliance in 14 seats.

    If the alliance paid dividends in the Bengali-majority central and lower Assam besides Barak Valley, it cost the Congress dear in the Assamese-dominated upper part of the state. In a state grappling with the problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh, voters in upper Assam were upset that Congress aligned with AIUDF, perceived to be the protector of illegal immigrants.

    “The alliance with the AIUDF affected us greatly in upper Assam,” a Congress insider said. 

    Of other reasons, he said Congress had a leadership vacuum after Gogoi’s death. “People did not accept the leadership of state Congress chief Ripun Bora. As we did not have a CM face, people got  confused.”

    Further, the two new parties, Raijor Dal and Asom Jatiya Parishad, caused a split of the anti-BJP and anti-AGP votes in several seats, thereby affecting the Congress. Congress also overestimated or miscalculated the anti-CAA sentiments. Even as it campaigned aggressively, several leaders of the anti-CAA movement joined BJP.

  • SP Balasubramaniam, Shinzo Abe among seven Padma Vibhushan awardees, here is full list

    By Online Desk
    Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, have been announced on Monday night. 

    ​The list comprises seven Padma Vibhushan, ten Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri Awards. 

    The Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service. Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field.

    These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan around March/ April every year. 

    Here is the full list of Padma Vibhushan awardees:

    Shri Shinzo Abe- Public Affairs- Japan
    Shri S P Balasubramaniam (Posthumous)- Art- Tamil Nadu
    Dr. Belle Monappa Hegde- Medicine- Karnataka
    Shri Narinder Singh Kapany (Posthumous)- Science and Engineering- United States of America
    Maulana Wahiduddin Khan- Others- Spiritualism- Delhi
    Shri B. B. Lal- Others- Archaeology- Delhi
    Shri Sudarshan Sahoo- Art- Odisha

    Here is the full list of Padma Bhushan awardees:

    Ms. Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra-Art-Kerala
    Shri Tarun Gogoi (Posthumous) -Public Affairs- Assam
    Shri Chandrashekhar Kambara-Literature and Education-Karnataka
    Ms. Sumitra Mahajan-Public Affairs-Madhya Pradesh
    Shri Nripendra Misra-Civil Service-Uttar Pradesh
    Shri Ram Vilas Paswan (Posthumous)-Public Affairs-Bihar
    Shri Keshubhai Patel (Posthumous)-Public Affairs-Gujarat
    Shri Kalbe Sadiq (Posthumous)-Others-Spiritualism-Uttar Pradesh
    Shri Rajnikant Devidas Shroff-Trade and Industry-Maharashtra
    Shri Tarlochan Singh-Public Affairs-Haryana

    Here is the full list of Padma Shri awardees:

    Former Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha, British film director Peter Brook, Father Vallés (posthumous), Professor Chaman Lal Sapru (posthumous) are among 102 recipients of Padma Shri award. pic.twitter.com/oMoHg3DXcc
    — ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2021

    (Inputs from Press Information Bureau)