10 September: Assam’s Nixon and the Politics of Atmosphere
In Assam, politics is rarely linear. It unfolds in metaphors, atmospheres, and whispers that are more suggestive than declarative. The last 10 September illustrates this well. On that day, the Chief Minister — whose style often earns him the Nixonian label — offered a forecast. It was not a plan, not a disclosure, not even a firm statement. It was airy, ambiguous, almost casual. And yet it mattered.
Nixonian Atmospherics
Richard Nixon’s political grammar thrived on ambiguity: shaping perceptions, signalling threats, and speaking in half-sentences that compelled others to fill in the blanks. Assam’s CM has mastered a similar craft. His 10 September forecast was less about content than about controlling the frame of conversation.
By hinting without confirming, he preserved manoeuvring space. By creating unease without evidence, he reminded the public that he alone possesses the full picture. This is the essence of Nixonian atmospherics: not telling people what will happen, but making them feel something is about to happen.
MPs as Translators of Ambiguity
In such a system, Assam’s MPs function as interpreters rather than initiators. They carry the CM’s airy words into Delhi’s corridors, not as evidence but as atmospheres. Parliamentary records may remain silent, but constituency politics does not. Silence in Delhi converts into grievance in Assam: “we warned them, but they ignored us.”
This feedback loop keeps the forecast alive even when it lacks substance.
The Daughter-in-Law Paradox
While atmospherics generate anxiety, Assam’s social reality often produces the opposite: assimilation. The “daughter-in-law” metaphor encapsulates this paradox. The outsider, once feared, becomes part of the family. Political rhetoric may forecast danger, but lived politics frequently produces accommodation.
Thus, the airy forecast of 10 September exists alongside the everyday reality of outsiders becoming insiders. Fear and absorption move in parallel.
Pakistan’s Phantom Presence
The forecast also hinted, without saying, at the phantom of Pakistan. In Assam’s security discourse, Pakistan functions less as a direct actor and more as a convenient shadow. By keeping references vague, leaders amplify fear without facing the burden of proof.
This ambiguity is strategic. A named enemy can be countered; a suggested enemy lingers indefinitely.
The Wordsmith’s Amplification
The true power of 10 September lay with the wordsmiths — journalists, commentators, opposition figures — who transformed airy hints into tangible narratives. In Assam, this is not new. From the Assam Agitation to insurgent manifestos, wordcraft has always preceded action. The CM’s ambiguity was raw material; the wordsmiths shaped it into discourse.
Conclusion: Governing Through the Unsaid
The last 10 September shows that in Assam, politics advances through the power of atmosphere rather than the solidity of events.
The CM’s Nixonian forecast created mood without evidence.
MPs converted that mood into grievance politics.
The daughter-in-law metaphor reflected Assam’s paradox of fear and absorption.
Pakistan’s phantom remained effective precisely because it was not specified.
Wordsmiths amplified ambiguity into public debate.
In this, 10 September was not empty at all. It revealed how Assamese politics thrives not only on what is said, but more crucially, on what is left unsaid.
