New Delhi:
Prafulla Mahanta's political career is tailor-made for movies. Except that, perhaps, he comes from a state that fails to capture popular imagination of our filmmakers in Mumbai.
Today, as I wait to interview him in Assam House, my memories take me back to a childhood when Mr Mahanta was a phenomenon.
Twenty-seven years ago, he made political history. And for many of us, young impressionable Assamese, Mr Mahanta had the makings of a hero. He led a group of students who moved the mighty Indian state without picking up the gun; New Delhi bowed before the popular sentiment and signed an accord, the Assam Accord.
Signed on August 15, 1985 but still waiting to be delivered. Deportation of Bangladeshis who crossed over and settled in Assam after Match 25, 1971.
Mr Mahanta led a disastrous first term as Chief Minister. Law and order was at the mercy of young students whose brother, cousin, uncle or aunt were a part of his cabinet and that would simply mean that these youngsters were above the law.
Militant ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) was on the rise. The fear of being targeted among non-Assamese speaking Indians peaked; so did allegations of corruption.
But more importantly, the "Assamese cause" that they fought for was lost in the reins of power. Neither one cared nor put an estimate to the number of people who crossed over from Bangladesh in search of work. Or continued to do so during their regime.
The Asom Gana Parishad had no clue how to tackle the issue, Congress denied infiltration was a serious problem and Baduddin Ajmal perhaps had something better to do: selling perfumes to the rest of the world.
But when Mr Mahanta and his party failed to deliver a second time in 1996, there was almost a sense of betrayal. Congress came to power in 2001 and since then hasn't looked back. Mr Mahanta's AGP has now ceded the space of the Opposition to Mr Ajmal's party, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).
"How do you respond to the charge that you betrayed the Assamese cause?" I asked Mr Mahanta. "Those who make this charge probably don't know or haven't read the Assam accord. There is a clause that Home Ministry will be the nodal ministry. We have told them many a times to take up the issue with the Dhaka government," he responded.
He sounded like the Bangladesh Foreign Ministet Dipu Moni who told NDTV recently that the issue of infiltration has never been raised by India as a bilateral issue. "She is right," says Mr Mahanta. "Let me make it clear. We dont justify violence. This is not a communal issue. It is a foreigners issue. Our lands, our villages being taken over," says the AGP leader.
Mr Mahanta reminds me how zikir, a genre of devotional music propagated by Ajan Fakir, is sung by everyone in Assam irrespective of one's religion. "This is being communalised by vested interest. The truth is Assam has become a dustbin,"declares Mahanta.
I ask him to explain his dustbin comment. "You see whenever someone is thrown out of a neighboring state, say Arunachal Pradesh or Meghalaya, because of suspected nationality, he comes and settles down in Assam," he elaborates. His obvious reference to the now-scrapped infamous IMDT Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act that put the onus of proving a suspect's citizenship on the state and not vice-versa.
This law was struck down by the Supreme Court about seven years ago but many believe that by then, the damage ran deep. "We have to be practical and find practical solution. See many who came in 1966 have acquired citizenship. But those who have come after 1971 should be deported," argues the former Chief Minister of Assam.
I take him back to one question: Even those who have come after the cut-off date of March 25, 1971, say in 1972, have now spent 40 years. "Is it possible now to deport them?" I pose this question to him: "What would you if you were the Chief Minister?"
"If deportation is difficult, then we should redistribute our migrant settlers in other parts of India so that there is less pressure on land and population in our state. And to prevent further infiltration, we should strengthen our borders,"comes the reply.
Mr Mahanta will have to wait till 2016 before he finds out whether people are willing to accept his views and politics. But it's clear that more than being in power, Mahanta must be worried about losing the space of the Opposition in Assam.