Congress's do-or-die battle for Gaurav in Jorhat

Congress’s do-or-die battle for Gaurav in Jorhat

No other seat in Assam is as interesting as Jorhat in this Lok Sabha election. The contest there has turned into a prestige battle between the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Congress. It will decide if the Congress’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, makes it to the elected House this time.

The significance of the fight is evident from a rally by Assam Chief Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma.

“Sivasagar was established as the capital of the Ahom kingdom by Swargadeos,” Sarma said on Wednesday during his last election rally for the first phase of voting in the Lok Sabha election in Assam.Â

Himanta’s reference to Swargadeos, a title for Ahom kings, and the place of his rally, Sivasagar, are both interesting.

Sivasagar comes under Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency, one of the 14 in Assam.

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has switched to Jorhat after the recent delimitation exercise in Assam. The seat is currently held by BJP’s Topon Kumar Gogoi.Â

Jorhat has a sizeable Ahom population and both Gaurav and Topon are Ahoms.

WHY JORHAT BATTLE IS PERSONAL FOR HIMANTA 

The seat is a prestige battle because Gaurav Gogoi’s father, Tarun Gogoi, was a two-time MP from here. Tarun Gogoi, who was the chief minister of Assam, also won from Titabor Assemby seat, which is part of the Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency.

Though Himanta Biswa Sarma has always been respectful of Tarun Gogoi, referring to him as ‘dangoriya’, the feud between the two is no secret. It was Sarma’s fight with Tarun Gogoi that made him leave the Congress and join the BJP.

The Jorhat fight is indeed personal.

Himanta Biswa Sarma played a crucial role in the Congress party’s return to power in Assam in 2011 and people saw him as the sucessor of CM Tarun Gogoi.

However, Tarun Gogoi had other plans, and he had started projecting his son Gaurav Gogoi as the inheritor of his political legacy.

Himanta, who had been a students’ leader since the early 1990s, was sidelined. He even appealed to the Congress high command multiple times, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Now, Gaurav Gogoi has come to Jorhat to contest and Himanta Biswa Sarma has taken the fight to him.

WHY GAURAV GOGOI WAS FORCED TO CONTEST FROM JORHAT 

It was the delimitation exercise conducted by the BJP-led Assam government that forced Gaurav Gogoi to ditch his Lok Sabha constituency and shift to Jorhat.

Earlier, Gaurav Gogoi was an MP from Kaliabor.

Three Muslim-dominated areas of Kaliabor constituency were added to Nowgong. Kaliabor seat was renamed Kaziranga.

Gaurav Gogoi wanted to contest for Nowgong, a rather safe seat for Congress because of a large Muslim population, but Pradyut Bardoloi, the sitting MP, retained the seat for himself.

Gaurav Gogoi then had to seek refuge in his father’s legacy and contest from Jorhat.

A PITCHED BJP Vs CONGRESS BATTLE IN JORHAT 

Gaurav Gogoi is not just another Congress MP.

Not only is he the son of Tarun Gogoi, but he is also the deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and one of its most vocal parliamentarians.

So, Congress has thrown its weight behind him.   Â

The stakes at Jorhat are so high that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had been largely absent from the heartland before the first phase of elections, made an appearance in Jorhat on Tuesday.

Priyanka Gandhi campaigned for Gaurav Gogoi in Titabor and led a roadshow along with other senior state Congress leaders.

The BJP’s Himanta Biswa Sarma called attendance at the Priyanka Gandhi rally low, and said it would be more beneficial to see rhinos in Kaziranga.

“I heard around 2,000-3,000 people gathered at Priyanka Vadra’s roadshow in Jorhat. Who will come to see Priyanka Gandhi? People would rather visit Kaziranga and watch tigers and rhinos,” he said.

Himanta also sought to question Gaurav Gogoi’s role as a parliamentarian.

“Some people want to say that Gaurav Gogoi was an active parliamentarian. I challenge anyone who can show me a single word spoken by him for the Kaliabor constituency. Has he spoken a single word for Jorhat, Majuli?” Himanta asked.Â

The BJP has built a solid organisational set up in Assam since it came to power in Assam in 2016.Â

“Participated in a meeting at Begenabari village panchayat today and was overwhelmed by the love and blessings of the people. Their response assures the resurgence of the BJP in Jorhat, reaffirming the certainty of the Modi government once again,” said Topon Gogoi on Wednesday.

Boosting the BJP, Sushanta Borgohain, who fought for the Congress against Topon Gogoi in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, has joined the saffron party.

Though Gaurav Gogoi has his father’s legacy to invoke, it will be a very difficult battle for him. People will vote on April 19 to decide who they send to the Lok Sabha, Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi or BJP’s Topon Gogoi.

But in the Gogoi vs Gogoi battle in Jorhat lies old strained ties that make the political battle personal too.Â