‘Some people are more native, but it’s a question of citizenship’: Hiren Gohain

You were an advisor to the regional party Raijor Dal in its early days before separation. So why did you call for the opposition to come together in this Assembly election?

I used to be a consultant but Akhil Gogoi [Raijor Dal chief] He refused to reach any agreement with the Congress, which had allied with the AIUDF and other parties in the previous elections. Since I supported the alliance, I felt it was unethical to stay with Akhil Gogoi and resigned.

Things have changed a lot since then. This time I got the idea of ​​Opposition unity quite early. We held the all Assamese citizens’ convention in Guwahati last year and told political parties that they can draw strength from each other and voters are much more likely to support such an alliance than individual parties. To our delight, they accepted, but it took quite a while. Now they hold joint campaign meetings everywhere.

How do the new regional parties differ from their 1980s predecessor, the Asom Gana Parishad?

The AGP was fully exposed during the Anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Bill agitation. MP Biren Baishya made an impassioned speech against the Act in the Rajya Sabha but [later] He raised his hand in support. The party remained with the BJP but said they would continue the fight against CAA. It became law and it seems they are still against it. The All Assam Students Union also lost much of its influence due to a similar position.

Has political discourse hit a new low today? We have never heard the derogatory term ‘Miya’ thrown around so freely in the past.

During the Assam Movement some diehard supporters used this word among themselves. But this was never part of the public rhetoric. Prime minister [Himanta Biswa Sarma] He says I will not leave the ‘Miyas’ alone and will harass them as much as I can, that’s why I became CM. Imagine a prime minister saying something like that.

As part of a group of concerned citizens, you took action in the courts over alleged hate speech. The next Supreme Court hearing is scheduled for April 21.

Since this is the incumbent Prime Minister, the court should have said something about this. In the meantime, some steps had to be taken to restrain him. The hearing was postponed to a very safe date.

Not much progress has been made since the 2019 National Register of Citizens excluded 19.06 lakh people…

This has been begging for an answer for a long time. It’s been seven years. The government neither accepted nor rejected this with reasonable justification. This was NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela’s idea on how to enable genuine citizens to find entry considering old data. They were so strict that even the natives had to suffer a lot. After several visits to the NRC centre, my own citizenship was confirmed. NRC is solid. There is no evidence of corruption and mismanagement. The BJP says there are hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis in the NRC and they will fix it. They need to bring evidence.

The issue of citizenship raises the question: Who are the indigenous Assamese for whom Constitutional protection is claimed in Article 6 of the Assam Accord?

This is a riddle I can’t solve. There is a perception among people that some are more indigenous and others are not, but this is a matter of citizenship. There is scope for immigrants from other states to come and settle here. Are they local? No. It’s a very complex term and concept. It is not possible to implement it legally.

You facilitated talks between the Government of India and ULFA 15 years ago. For all intents and purposes, has militancy run its course?

I remember studying in Delhi in 1959-60. There were students from Andhra Pradesh, Punjab in the hostel… Most of these States were as poor as Assam but have become much more developed and rich. Assam has a grievance against the Centre, and I share it. Given this background, extreme regionalism rears its head from time to time. But one would have to be naive to think that short-term violence brings results… it never does. People suffered from this. They may not be as welcoming to this type of violence as they used to be.