Anwara Taimur govt in Assam survives no-confidence motion

The Congress(I) ministry in Assam has survived the acid test. The no-confidence motion, which had hung like Damocles sword over the 100-day-old Taimur government, was defeated by a 53:43 margin in a climatic note, after weeks of political horsetrading and hard undercover bargainings at the state capital, Dispur.The House which met for the first time after a long gap was under heavy security. following two bomb blasts a day before the sitting in the MLA's hostel, a stone's throw from the Assembly House. While men from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Assam Police force encircled the entire area around Janata Bhawan, the MLA hostel and the Vidhan Sabha, metal detectors were installed inside the House as a security measure. Till the last moment it was touch and go for the Taimur ministry which managed to survive mainly because the Left parties abstained from voting.The threat to the Congress(I) Government came not so much from the Opposition, which could not persuade the 23-member Left group to make common cause with them, but from dissidents within the party. The Congress(I), whose strength in the present House of 121 is a slender 48, could not afford to lose a single member.Taimur (left) and Tewari: An all-out effort to save the dayThe party position was so precarious that Hiteshwar Saikia, who was undergoing dialysis at Jaslok Hospital flew in from Bombay to cast his vote. In fact, three Central ministers. N.D. Tewari, N.R. Laskar and P.K. Thungon as well as INTUC president M.K. Bhatt jetted all the way from New Delhi to prop up the Taimur ministry.The non-Communist Opposition, led by ex-chief ministers Sarat Sinha and Golap Borbora, had banked heavily on a section of the ruling party MLAs walking out of the Congress(I) and joining forces with them. The process was started when Jay Chandra Nagbanshi, the youthful minister of state for Labour, submitted his resignation to the chief minister a few days before the budget session was scheduled.Humiliation: Nagbanshi. who represents the eight member lea garden labour group in the party, is reported to have been persuaded by fellow labour MLAs to announce his withdrawal. The main grievance of this group is that they have been denied adequate representation in the ministry. They feel that the tea garden community had always given solid support to the Congress (I) but their representation in the ministry was not in proportion to the block votes they brought in. Nagbanshi stated that his group felt "humiliated because we are not taken seriously by the chief minister."Nagbanshi and the tea garden dissidents were mollified literally hours before the crucial vote with the promise of three berths in the ministerial team. With Nagbanshi's return to the fold the hopes of the Opposition of mustering enough strength for the no-confidence motion dwindled. The last straw for the Sarat Sinha group came when the four-member Plains Tribal Council of Assam (PTCA) band deserted them at the last moment. The PTCA reportedly changed its stand when the chief minister assured them that their demand for the development of tribal areas and eviction of non-tribals from tribal belts would be given due consideration. The PTCA which had earlier announced that it would remain neutral, was persuaded at the last moment to vote against the motion.The other group within the Congress(I) on which the opposition had relied, is made up of the large number of opportunists in the party. Most of the legislators who had defected to the party, which had an original strength of eight, had done so in the hope of rich dividends. Some disappointed elements, thought they could gain by threatening the ministry at its hour of crisis. But the emissaries of the High Command from New Delhi were able to dissuade these MLAs. They were assured that a change of leadership could be made later, it necessary. and this was no time for infighting. Moreover the unceremonious sacking of V.C. Shukla from the Central Cabinet for his open encouragement of dissidents against the Madhya Pradesh chief minister, has also had a salutary effect on the party rebels in Assam.Grudge: A large number of party MLAs are in fact, unhappy with the leadership of Anwara Taimur. Their main grouse against the chief minister is her method of functioning. It is alleged that she often does not take her Cabinet into confidence and relies mainly on advice from people outside the party. In fact, Atul Goswami, an independent MLA, charged on the floor of the Assembly that Hasmat Pasha, a senior official in the state engineering department has been a close confidante of the chief minister. Pasha, who was once suspended for graft, has been a controversial figure. Partymen are also annoyed with Taimur's aversion to criticism by partymen.Fortunately for Taimur, at the moment. with Hiteshwar Saikia keeping indifferent health, there is no alternative leader around whom the dissidents can rally. Though the name of Finance Minister Keshab Gogoi is often heard, he is not yet a serious challenger. He came into Congress(I) from the Janata Party relatively recently and has yet to build up a rapport with partymen. He may be a man to watch in the future.This is not to say that the clamour for change within the Congress(I) will vanish. Differences within the party are bound to surface. In fact, the tea garden MLAs are scheduled to meet the prime minister on April 2, and will press among other things, for a change in leadership. If partymen keep up the pressure, a change cannot be entirely ruled out. However, the Congress(I) being a highly centralised party, the ultimate decision will rest with the High Command. If the prime minister wants Taimur to continue, she can prevail upon her partymen.The main task before the Taimur government now is to meet the challenge of the agitation in the state. Since the Congress (I) government took over in Dispur, the movement against foreign nationals has more or less remained suspended. This is due to the fact that the majority of the students as well as their guardians were not reconciled to the loss of a full academic year. The movement has been suspended till the middle of May, by which time all university exams in Assam would be over. The students have threatened to resume their agitation after that.Effective Tactics: If Taimur's strong arm tactics, which Congress (I) circles claim have brought back the rule of law in the state, can deal effectively with the agitationists, her government would gain credibility. Since the Congress (I) administration has taken over, the law and order situation in the state has already improved. This has won for it a large measure of goodwill from the minority groups. And it goes some way to explain why the 23-member Left group abstained from voting, and helped give the ministry a fresh lease of life. The Left parties also felt that the relative stability which the Congress (I) offered would disappear if the Opposition parties, which support the agitation, took over the administration.Student leaders in Gauhati have refused to comment on the survival of the Taimur ministry. They insist that they do not recognise a government elected on the basis of an incorrect voters' list. A spokesman for All Assam Student Union (AASU) remarked: '"The goings and - comings of ministries will have no effect on our movement." The agitationists have not yet announced the next phase of the movement. The ebullient leader of the Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad (PLP), Nibaran Bora, however, acknowledged that the task before the agitationists with the Congress (I) in the saddle would be rather difficult. The Congress(I) would now organise resistance groups at all levels in both rural and urban areas. The 'gaon panchayats and village headmen would be utilised at the grassroots to break up the movement. Bora felt that the present ministry was committed to '"commit atrocities in the name of popular government and protection of minorities."Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 22, 2013 10:24 IST--- ENDS ---

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Anwara Taimur govt in Assam survives no-confidence motion

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