I boarded my flight for Guwahati with mixed emotions. It wasn’t my first trip to Assam, but certainly my first visit as the Congress’s media in-charge for the 2021 Assam assembly elections. I had been to IIM Shillong several times via Guwahati for academic purposes, and more than 20 years of rigour had made me a lot more comfortable as a professor. Both as an academician and as a politician, I have always stressed on lucidity in communication to minimise any possible misunderstanding. In Assam, I was sceptical. Language wasn’t on my side. Will I be able to get my message across to the Assamese people or will it be lost in translation?
My fears frittered away completely at the very first press conference I addressed. A journalist wasn’t convinced with our brief explanation on the Congress’s job creation roadmap. He insisted on an interview and I agreed. Of course, I expected to be grilled, but five minutes into the interview, I realised this interaction was different from the often antagonistic, almost inimical, approach we Congress spokespersons have become used to in Delhi. The journalist wasn’t simply seeking a headline or some ‘angle’ to deflate our claim; there was instead a genuinely honest attempt to explain to the people what the Congress had proposed and how we planned to achieve it. I realised that language was no barrier with the Assamese people so long as they understood that you had their best interests at heart. In due course, the local media also became a solid source of honest opinion on our campaign. A huge bonus of such acquaintances was that by the time the campaign ended, I could understand most parts of an Assamese conversation and even injected my interactions with a smattering of the language.
Despite my nearly two-month-long stay in Assam, I returned with one wish that remained only partly fulfilled. I wish I could have explored more joints serving the state’s signature cuisines. The few exploratory trips that I did manage to sneak out for proved to be not just a foodie’s delight, but were also illuminating due to impromptu discussions with the local people. On one such visit to a nearby mall at Guwahati’s GS Road, I was pleasantly surprised when some youngsters walked up to me and said, “Bahut achcha laga aapko Guwahati mein dekh kar”. They had apparently seen one of my pressers in which I had talked about my party’s roadmap for employment generation. It piqued their interest—and their appellation for me piqued mine: ‘Trillion wale Bhaiya’, they called me! The boys had been first-time voters in 2016 and conceded to have voted for the BJP then. Now, they wanted to understand the Congress’s vision. They also suggested a Marwari restaurant where I could try good vegetarian food and even walked me to the eatery. Though they politely declined my invitation for dinner, their insights about our poll promises and aspirations of the Assamese youth were instructive.
The more I interacted with the Assamese people, the more I recognised their yearning for a politics that gave them hope—answers and not rhetoric or pessimism over what hadn’t been done. Right from my days as a student to an academician and then a politician, my faith in an inclusive and economically developed India has been unwavering. My interactions in Assam reaffirmed my belief. I am proud we ran a positive campaign that focused on creating a better Assam. We presented a clear vision for Assam despite provocations by our rivals to engage in petty mudslinging. Elections are about people, for the people. Let’s keep them that way.
The two months I spent in Assam helped me form deep bonds—with our Congress colleagues and those among our allies as well as the common people of the state. By the time the election was over, I had hoarded invites from many of our leaders for a guided tour of the Assamese hinterland. I plan to take each one of them up on their generous offer and be back soon. Jai Aai Axom.