A speech, a storm, and a swift exit: Why ex-minority student leader quit Congress days after joining

A statement that supposedly aimed at harmony made while joining the Congress triggered such a furore within and outside the party that prominent former minority student leader Rejaul Karim Sarkar resigned on Wednesday, just three days after joining.

Rejaul Karim Sarkar, who recently stepped down as president of the All Assam Minority Students’ Union, had joined the Congress on January 11.

At the joining programme, which was presided over by Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi, he had said: “Such an environment has been created in Assam that people despise one another. We had never wanted an Assam like that… Every community has its own problems, and this is a stage where we can together present the problems of each community and tribe, through which there is a road for moving towards development, progress for all. And if we go down that road, we will reach a beautiful Assam.”

He went on to say, “And I’m a strong believer that with all the communities holding each other’s hands and walking together, making Sivasagar Dhubri, making Dhubri Sivasagar, making Barak Sivasagar, making Tinsukia Dhubri, uniting everyone with the message of development and harmony, we will take Assam forward together.”

The statement spurred controversy in the state. Dhubri is a Bengali-origin Muslim-majority district of western Assam along the border with Bangladesh, while Sivasagar and Tinsukia are eastern Assam districts home to different ethnic Assamese communities.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma led the charge, calling the statement a threat to “turn these districts into Miya land” by relocating people from Bengali-origin Muslim western Assam districts to eastern Assam. The controversy snowballed, raising debates in local media and even leading to protests in places like Lakhimpur led by Assamese nationalist groups such as the Veer Lachit Sena.

The very next day, Sarkar issued a video “clarification” in which he said that his statement was about “harmony” and had been misrepresented for “propaganda”.

“What I said was that we have to take everyone’s development together in harmony and create a Bor Assam (Greater Assam) together. Taking some parts of my statement, the way in which there were attempts to create propaganda is condemnable. I never meant to say that people from Dhubri will stay in Sivasagar, and that people of Sivasagar will stay in Dhubri,” he said.

Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi too treaded a careful line after this, saying that he had “urged” Sarkar “to be careful in making such public statements in the future”.

“Because of the choice of words, the intended meaning of Sarkar’s statement had been altered, leading to misunderstanding,” he said.

However, Gogoi’s attempt to control the situation did not bring an end to the controversy, even within the party. Even after Gogoi’s statement, Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Assembly Debabrata Saika — who represents the Nazira constituency in Sivasagar — publicly criticised the statement, while also alleging that Sarkar was close to Chief Minister Sarma and could be an “agent” of his.

“Sivasagar will always be Sivasagar, and Dhubri will always be Dhubri. Both places have their historical glory and importance… ‘Bor Assam’ does not mean uniformity but protecting the dignity of every place. Whether new or experienced in the political field, everyone should refrain from such sensitive and confusing statements,” he said.

Responding to media queries on the same issue, Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi said that he had taken up the matter with Gogoi.

“People who enter a responsible party, especially at the level of a leader, should say things very responsibly. This person who joined — I don’t know him very well — maybe he was not able to express properly what he wanted to say,” Bordoloi said.

With criticism mounting, Sarkar submitted his resignation from the party on Wednesday, calling Saika and Bordoloi “BJP agents” and saying their statements had caused him “deep moral and ideological anguish”.

“Their stance on recent issues has, in my considered view, demoralised me and has maligned my image in the public fora. In these circumstances, I find it difficult to continue my association with the party in the presence of BJP agents like Debabrata Saika and Pradyut Bordoloi,” he wrote in his letter.