Once hailed as the torchbearer of Assamese identity and aspiration, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) today stands as a token ally — a party whose emotional capital has been exhausted and whose political relevance has been quietly consumed by its stronger ally, the BJP. What began as a mass upsurge against illegal immigration has been carefully rerouted into a narrative that serves national interests, not regional assertion.

The Birth of a Movement, the Rise of a Party

The Assam Movement (1979–1985), spearheaded by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), was more than a protest — it was a civil uprising rooted in cultural insecurity and demographic anxiety. When the movement culminated in the historic Assam Accord, it laid the foundation for the formation of the AGP in 1985. The student leaders transitioned into political power almost seamlessly, and the AGP rode a massive wave of legitimacy to a thumping victory in its very first electoral outing.

The 1996 election marked the party’s second major triumph, but this time under very different political circumstances. Then-Congress CM Hiteswar Saikia had become a hated figure among a large section of the Assamese population, particularly for his hardline stance against ULFA, which had alienated large parts of Upper Assam. In contrast, ULFA — still underground but highly influential — was widely perceived to have tacitly supported the AGP, hoping for a softer, more sympathetic government. The AGP neither confirmed nor denied this covert backing, but benefited electorally from the political mood ULFA helped shape, especially in regions where Saikia's militarized policies had created deep resentment.

The Fall: Secret Killings and Shattered Trust

However, AGP’s return to power brought with it moral compromise and political decline. The notorious “secret killings” — a phase during which relatives of ULFA militants were allegedly targeted and assassinated — unfolded under the AGP’s watch. The same government once seen as a softer alternative to Saikia’s Congress regime now stood accused of silent complicity. Public trust fractured. Once-revered leaders like Prafulla Kumar Mahanta saw their reputations collapse. From being a symbol of Assamese pride, AGP devolved into a symbol of betrayal and incompetence.

The party’s failure to govern decisively, its inability to evolve ideologically, and its unwillingness to challenge the BJP later on only accelerated its marginalization.

The Silent Strategy of the Sangh

While AGP unraveled, the Sangh Parivar observed from the margins — meticulous, patient, and strategic. The RSS and its affiliates had long desired that the agitation in Assam take on a more explicitly Hindu-Muslim dimension. But the original AASU leadership had consciously resisted such communal framing, keeping the movement focused on illegal immigration regardless of religion.

Denied the ideological framing they preferred, the Sangh waited. Their moment came decades later, as AGP weakened and BJP’s national presence surged.

2016: Emotional Capture, Political Merger

By 2016, the BJP had mastered the art of merging Hindutva with regional pride, entering Assam not as an outsider but as a guardian of Assamese interests — ironically, the same space AGP once occupied. Through a carefully curated alliance, AGP became an entry point, a bridge to Assamese hearts. But once inside, the BJP didn’t just collaborate — it systematically absorbed.

AGP, by then stripped of its ideological spine, became a political accessory. The rise of Himanta Biswa Sarma and the emotional theatrics of BJP’s campaign saw AGP reduced to the background. And with the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), AGP’s ideological contradictions were fully exposed.

CAA and the Death of the Original Dream

The CAA, passed in 2019, went against the very foundation of the Assam Accord. It redefined “foreigner” based on religion, allowing Hindu migrants from Bangladesh to acquire citizenship — something the original Assam Movement stood firmly against. The irony was unmistakable: the very party born to protect Assam from unchecked migration now silently endorsed a law that undermined that cause.

And with it, a new political class emerged — the Neo-Assamese: Bengali-speaking Hindus with state-sanctioned citizenship and rising political clout. The fabric of Assamese nationalism was diluted, reframed to suit a broader project of Indian nationalism, scripted not in Dispur but in Nagpur and Delhi.

The Afterlife of AGP: A Political Fossil

Today, AGP is no longer a player — it’s a prop. Its leaders serve more as ceremonial ministers than power-wielding policymakers. The party is wheeled out during elections to placate old emotional memories but holds no real leverage in the state's affairs.

The dream of Assamese self-determination, once bright and defiant, has been systematically redirected, diluted, and domesticated. And the party that once carried that dream now exists merely as a penny in BJP’s grand political treasury.