Former Assam MP joins regional party, slams ‘authoritarian’ BJP

GUWAHATI

Former Assam MP Rajen Gohain accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of running a “Hitler-like authoritarian government after joining the regional Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) on Wednesday (November 5, 2025).

A four-time parliamentarian from central Assam’s Nagaon constituency, he quit the BJP in October.

“The BJP-led government has turned Assam into a police-run State. The BJP has become the biggest enemy of the State instead of strengthening its social fabric,” he told journalists after wearing the AJP colours.

The AJP, led by former All Assam Students’ Union leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi, was a product of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act movement in the State in 2019. The party’s general secretary, Jagadish Bhuyan, had quit the BJP during the peak of the movement.

Mr. Gohain, who was a key member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) before joining the BJP, said the people of Assam effectively handed over the State’s control to the BJP’s central leadership in New Delhi, losing their voice and autonomy in the bargain.

The 74-year-old slammed the dictatorial style of functioning of the Assam government headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He alleged that the BJP was misusing the administrative machinery to plunder the State and let outsiders take control of its land and resources.

Taking a swipe at the Chief Minister, a former Congress Minister, Mr. Gohain said that those who “did bad things” in the grand old party “are now leading the BJP”. He indicated that he would be comfortable if the AJP went for a strategic alliance with Congress.

The former MP also criticised Mr. Sarma for his treatment of the late singer-composer Zubeen Garg. “If the Chief Minister had an iota of respect for Zubeen, he would have scrapped a [flyover] project when the late singer protested the felling of trees.

Mr. Gohain is among the veterans with an RSS past at the core of the “old BJP” versus the “new BJP” debate in Assam. The older set of BJP leaders is reportedly growing disenchanted with the newer “imported” set now controlling the party.