The three Gogois in the Opposition fighting against the BJP in the Assam Assembly elections have failed to make a collective impact. Congress state unit president and Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi and Assam Jatiya Parishad head Lurinjyoti Gogoi lost the polls, while Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi won his Sibsagar seat by a margin of more than 17,000 votes.
Akhil’s victory comes from his active body language and his constant presence on the ground, where he keeps interacting with the people of his constituency and beyond. His party has secured one more seat as Mahboob Muktar won the Dhing Assembly constituency.
Before the elections, one of Akhil’s public meetings in Dhing reflected both hope and concern: while his supporters were optimistic, there was also noticeable resentment over the alliance’s functioning and a lack of clarity within Congress as polling day approached.
The months of discontent appear to have translated into electoral setbacks for his counterparts in the alliance. Gaurav Gogoi suffered a heavy defeat in the Jorhat Assembly constituency, losing by over 20,000 votes to the BJP candidate, while Lurinjyoti Gogoi was also defeated in the newly created Khowang constituency by nearly 10,000 votes.
In Upper Assam, home to around 2 per cent of the influential Ahom population, the Opposition alliance managed to win just two of 45 seats—Sibsagar and Nowboicha—showing how they failed to capitalise the anti-incumbency across the region.
A party insider said, “There was a clear lack of coordination. Although in the last few days it looked like everything was under control and the three Gogois were working together, it only appeared so. In reality, the Congress could not lead the alliance effectively.”
Party insiders also blame the Congress’s AICC in-charge of Assam, Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, for not doing enough or playing a decisive role in steering the party towards victory. They also blame the state leadership for failing to create a smooth structure that could have helped the alliance.
It is also evident that the anti-BJP forces were largely confined to Muslim-majority constituencies, failing to make a dent in Hindu-dominated seats—a trend that could further reinforce the BJP’s narrative of Congress as a Muslim-centric party.