[Assam] Article

Wed Sep 10 23:17:30 PDT 2008

Dilip Da,
Thanks for the clarification. Words may play spoilsport to an otherwise good piece of writing.

Uttam Kumar Borthakur

----- Original Message ----
From: Dilip and Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com>
To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world <assam at assamnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, 11 September, 2008 8:59:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Article

Uttam,
Your observation is correct. "Winnable" is not the correct word in the context. The proper word would be "electable".
Or, the sentence "Solely guided by this principle, the AGP is now in search of a winnable leader." could have been written as 
"Solely guided by this principle, the AGP is  now in search of a leader who can win."
Dilip Deka
====================================================================================

----- Original Message ----
From: uttam borthakur <uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in>
To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world <assam at assamnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 9:48:49 PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Article

Ram Da-

Winnable election means an election that can be won.
Winnable war means a war that can be won.
By that analogy, 'winnable leader' should mean a leader that can be won or won over: But Goswami uses the term to mean a leader who can win it for AGP. Is it okay? I wanted to know that. Or should it be winning/winner/sure winner etc.?

Uttam Kumar Borthakur

----- Original Message ----
From: Ram Sarangapani <assamrs at gmail.com>
To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world <assam at assamnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, 10 September, 2008 10:22:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Article

Hi Uttam,

Goswami makes it abundantly clear:

"Many virtues (and vices too) are required to be the leader of a political
party in a parliamentary democracy. But the most important of them is
winnability in elections, usually a party is ready to swim with its
leader,..."

This winnability factor is everywhere (for better or for worse). John McCain
must have looked at the +es and -es before selecting his running mate, as
has Obama, and George Bush (well, maybe not Bush, 'cause Chenney selected
himself to be be Bush's running mate).

But that is how politics is played, and there are only a few instances where
the aspirations and needs of country, state and its people are given any
consideration. Thats never going to change.

I think though, a lesson for the rest of us is not to be surprised or
have high expectations from politicians. If they can throw their own kind
under the bus at any time,  I doubt if God & country, have a chance.

--Ram da

On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 11:26 AM, uttam borthakur <
uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in> wrote:

> >>>>Solely guided by this principle, the AGP is now in search of a winnable
> leader.
>
> I have a question. A winnable election campaign; a winnable war against
> terrorism; For AGP Assam is winnable.............. but a winnable candidate/
> leader? Is there something wrong or I am mistaken?
>
> Uttam Kumar Borthakur
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: hiten mahanta <hitenmahanta at gmail.com>
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Sent: Wednesday, 10 September, 2008 6:52:10 PM
> Subject: [Assam] Article
>
> *AGP: in search of a winnable leader
> — Ranen Kumar Goswami*
> *A* political party, out of power after tasting it once, looks at the seat
> of power with the greedy eyes of a cat hungry for fish, the Asom Gana
> Parishad (AGP) cannot be an exception. Not that it's a fault as, in a
> democracy, all parties conforming to the rules set by the system, have a
> constitutional right to join the chase for power. Janata Bhavan has eluded
> the AGP since 2001. In 2006, a wrong assessment of the situation, coupled
> with a wave artificially created in the pages of a section of newspapers,
> injected an illusion of electoral victory in the minds of AGP leadership,
> but that was not to be. AGP president Brindabon Goswami, who was more a
> Chief Ministerial candidate of one or two newspapers than his party, had
> eventually to become the leader of Opposition in Assam Assembly. One-term
> starvation is enough for a party, but for the AGP the 2006 defeat has
> prolonged the starvation to two terms at a stretch. This perhaps explains
> its restlessness for the much-hyped unification move.
>
> Many virtues (and vices too) are required to be the leader of a political
> party in a parliamentary democracy. But the most important of them is
> winnability in elections, usually a party is ready to swim with its leader,
> but not sink with him or her, the most glaring example of this being Indira
> Gandhi, the former Prime Minister. In the 1977 Lok Sabha polls the
> Indira-led Congress was voted out of power. Indira was thrown out of the
> party and the Indira Congress was born. The new-born Congress captured
> power
> in 1980 and as a result regained recognition as the original Congress. Same
> proclivities can be noticed inside the AGP too, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta's
> leadership started facing a challenge from senior party leaders Brindabon
> Goswami, Bhrigu Kumar Phukan and others as soon as the AGP was ousted from
> power with the imposition of President's Rule in Assam in 1990, the party
> split with the breakaway faction being called the Natun Asom Gana Parishad
> (NAGP). None of them came to power in the 1991 Assembly elections. The
> Congress bagged 66 seats with 29.93 per cent votes while the AGP got 19
> seats and 17.93 per cent votes. The NAGP secured just 5.45 per cent votes
> with five seats, electoral defeat is a great unifying force. The NAGP came
> back and dissolved itself in the AGP.
>
> The AGP, an offspring of the Assam movement, struck an electoral alliance
> with die-hard opponents of the movement, CPI and CPI-M in the 1996 Assembly
> polls. ASDC was its other ally, the four-party alliance, under the
> leadership of Prafulla Kumar Mahanta captured power with the AGP getting
> 29.70 per cent votes and 59 seats, CPI getting 1.95 per cent votes and
> three
> seats, CPI-M 1.94 per cent votes and two seats and ASDC getting 1.98 per
> cent votes and five seats. Mahanta's winnability was proved. The Congress
> won 34 seats with 30.56 per cent votes. The AGP, formed on October 14,1985
> following an end to the Assam movement with the signing of the Assam Accord
> on August 15. The same year, came to power in the Assembly polls held on
> December 16. But that year the party was swept to victory by the wave
> crated
> by the six-year long agitation. It bagged 63 seats with 34.84 per cent
> votes. Three independent MLAs later joined the party, the Congress secured
> 23 per cent votes and 25 seats. A newly-formed political party United
> Minorities Front, which can be called a forerunner of the AUDF, got 10.85
> per cent votes and 17 seats. Once in power, the AGP forgot the commitments
> it had made to the people, i.e., to detect and deport illegal migrants. In
> the 1991 elections, there was no wave. In its first tenure, the State
> descended into total anarchy and ULFA militancy spread its tentacles.
> Promising stability, the Congress returned to power. Devastated by defeats,
> the AGP paid as little attention to the aliens issue as possible in its
> 1996
> election manifesto. There was no clear mention of the issue save a routine
> promise to implement the Assam Accord. It had already learnt the lessons of
> opportunism taught by politics of votes.
>
> The party went to the 2001 election under Mahanta's leadership. It got
> 20.02
> per cent votes, 20 seats and lost power. The Congress fought the polls
> under
> Tarun Gogoi's leadership, won 39.75 per cent votes, 71 seats and captured
> power. Seven more MLAs including NCP's three, later joined the Congress
> taking its tally of legislators to 78. Defeat invites discontent and digs
> out disturbing issues. This time was no exception for the AGP, especially
> the issue of secret killings severely eroded Mahanta's support base. Maybe,
> the other senior leaders began to think the party would never come back to
> power under Mahanta. At this time and that too all of a sudden, Mahanta's
> alleged extra-marital affair received widespread publicity from an
> overzealous media. This opportunity was put to full use and Mahanta was
> replaced as party president by Brindabon Goswami. Forced by circumstances,
> Mahanta formed a new party, the Asom Gana Parishad (Pragatishil). The 2006
> election gave Brindabon Goswami a golden opportunity to prove his
> winnability and ensure longevity of his leadership. But that was not to be
> the ruling Congress got 31.08 per cent votes and 53 seats, and its ally
> BPPF(H) got 3.72 per cent votes and 11 seats. Together they captured the
> seat of power. The AGP secured 20.39 per cent votes and got 24 seats. The
> AUDF won 9.03 per cent votes and ten seats. This was the second consecutive
> victory for the Congress. According to a post-poll survey by the
> Hindu-CNN-IBN: "In more ways than one, this is a verdict against the ruling
> Congress. Between the last Assembly election and this one, the party lost
> nearly nine percentage points. In any other State, such a negative swing
> and
> a vote share of 31 per cent would have spelt a sure electoral disaster."
> The
> AGP under Brindabon Goswami's leadership, failed to take advantage of this
> situation. Mahanta contested from two constituencies and won from one. That
> was the only seats his AGP(P) could manage. The party polled 2.5 per cent
> votes. According to the survey, had the AGP and AGP(P) fought jointly they
> would have bagged 30 seats, which means, power would have still eluded it.
>
> In such a situation, it's only too natural that a party would jump into a
> search for alternative leadership. A realignment has already been effected
> at the top rung, Chandramohan Patowary has been made the leader of
> Opposition and Phanibhushan Choudhury the working president, a clear
> indicators of the diluted power Goswami now enjoys. But this is not enough,
> thinks the party. It needs a leader with proven winnability. Twice it came
> to power, both the times under Prafulla Kumar Mahanta's leadership. Thus
> Mahanta is the prized target of the unification move. The move also
> includes
> the Trinamool Gana Parishad and Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad, the parties
> formed or revamped by AGP deserters. So, unification of regional forces is
> in reality the unification of AGP splinter groups. But the All Assam
> Student's Union (AASU) is playing spoilsport, which says Mahanta must be
> left out of the unification move as, according to it, he has betrayed the
> cause of the Assam movement despite being in power for two terms.
>
> But will the AGP listen? Not likely. If you are too choosy, too committed
> to
> ideology to keep party interests above that of the people and dig into the
> shady past of a probable leader, you may at best be called a patriot but
> not
> a vote-catcher. In power politics, a person's value is determined by his or
> her vote-catching capabilities. Solely guided by this principle, the AGP is
> now in search of a winnable leader.
> (The Assam Tribune, September 10,2008
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>
>
>
>      Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now, on
> http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/
>  _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>
_______________________________________________
assam mailing list
assam at assamnet.org
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org

      Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now, on http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/
_______________________________________________
assam mailing list
assam at assamnet.org
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
_______________________________________________
assam mailing list
assam at assamnet.org
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org

      Connect with friends all over the world. Get Yahoo! India Messenger at http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/?wm=n/