Leadership of AGP in Contemporary Politics of Assam

Abstract

India is a vast country full of different religions, races and cultures. Unity among diversity is an important characteristic of India. However, although we are bound together by the emotion of unity, there is a tendency to create a separate identity at the regional level at various times. Such regional aspirations have emerged in different parts of India at different times which we can call regionalism in the simplest sense. Assam is no different in this regard. Since independence, strong tendency of regionalism has developed in Assam at various times. The Assam Gana Parishad played an important role in developing this kind of sentiment in Assam. The Assam Gana Parishad, which was formed as a result of the six-years long Assam movement, gave birth to regional politics in Assam. The Assam movement, which began in 1979 under the leadership of the “All Assam Students’ Union” , ended in 1985 when the historic “Assam Peace Accord” was signed between the then Prime Minister of India, ‘Rajiv Gandhi’ and the leadership of the movement. After the signing of the “Assam Peace Accord”, Assembly elections were announced in Assam and some of the leaders of the “AASU” formed the regional political party called “Assam Gana Parishad”. Since then, the party has influenced the political system of Assam to a greater extent. In this paper we will provide an analytical study of the Assam Gana Parishad Party and its leadership and their effectiveness.