The 18th century Rangghar, considered Asia’s oldest amphitheatre, is more than just a landmark in eastern Assam’s Sivasagar.
It symbolises Assamese cultural pride, was witness to the birth of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom in April 1979 and most recently, the movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The only posters near this centrepiece of Ahom architecture are of Raijor Dal (RD), one of two new regional political parties sired by the violent anti-CAA movement that landed its president Akhil Gogoi in jail 15 months ago. The posters display Mr. Gogoi along with Lurinjyoti Gogoi, president of Assam Jatiya Parishad, the other party forged in the anti-CAA fire.
A team of volunteers, many of them college and university students are armed with Mr. Gogoi’s posters and cut-outs as they fan out of an unused Naga cuisine restaurant turned party office located 5 km from Rangghar to seek votes for their jailed leader.
“It is tough campaigning without our candidate in person. The BJP and the Congress are trying to take advantage by telling people that a candidate absent before election will not be seen after. But our volunteers are making people understand that he has been kept out of campaigning deliberately,” Bedabrata Gogoi, a Jawaharlal Nehru University student handling the RD chief’s campaign told The Hindu.
“Sivasagar is steeped in history. It was once the kingdom of the mighty Ahoms whose monarchy was more democratic than today’s Assam. The people are realising our candidate is the jailed present to a better future without CAA and other anti-people rules imposed on us,” he added.
RD also hopes Priyada Gogoi, Akhil Gogoi’s 84-year-old mother would help garner the sympathy votes. “People are shedding tears for me as I have been for my son. All I want is for my son to be free, and I know they can help him get out of jail by voting for him,” she said.
Protim Sharma, a college teacher and political commentator, said the candidature of Akhil Gogoi — accused of ties with Maoist — has rejuvenated the Left-leaning voters of Sibsagar. The constituency used to be a CPI stronghold before former Assembly Speaker Pranab Gogoi made it a Congress bastion since 2001.
Congress candidate Subhramitra Gogoi, a newcomer who has the responsibility of defending the seat for the party, brushes aside the challenge from the jailed leader. “He is not a major factor. He may gain sympathy from some, but most people here do not trust him,” he said.
‘Welcome graduation’
The BJP’s Surabhi Rajkonwari, who had lost the 2016 election narrowly to Pranab Gogoi, welcomed the RB president’s “graduation” from “street andolan (agitation)” to electoral politics. “He has his agenda, we have our own, and that is development for all. Let’s see who the people opt for,” she said.
A total of six candidates, including Ajit Hazarika of Nationalist Congress Party, are contesting the Sibsagar seat that goes to the polls on March 27.
