|
Poll
pie share: Only
35 of 914 candidates in the Assam Assembly fray are women
Samudra Gupta
Kashyap
Guwahati,
April 29: Of the 914 candidates in the fray for the Assam Assembly
polls, only 35 are women. Like
their sisters across the country, women in Assam know that 33 per
cent reservation for them in the decision-making process is a dream.
The equations at the coming polls have simply made this evident.
 On
May 10, the fate of 126 seats will be decided. The Congress, contesting
all the seats, has most women nominees on its list at 15. Next comes
the AGP at five.
But the bubble
bursts on a closer look. Most nominated women are widows of prominent
leaders. The logic is stark: Their parties hope to ride home on
the sympathy wave that they may trigger.
Alaka Desai
Sarma, widow of AGP general-secretary Nagen Sarma, is one of the
nominees. The party chose her at a by-poll last year after the ULFA
assassinated her husband. Alaka, a Gujarati and former journalist,
then became the Nalbari MLA. The AGP has now renominated her.
The Congress
too has fielded two women who lost their husbands to the ULFA. Ajanta
Neog, wife of former Golaghat MLA and Cooperation minister Nagen
Neog, will contest from her late husband’s seat. Nagen died
in an ambush a day after polling for the 1996 Assembly elections
wound up.
The other candidate
is Jonjonali Barua, widow of former Morigaon district Congress committee
secretary Kshirode Barua. The ULFA shot him dead in 1995. Jonjonali
will fight from Morigaon, a CPI stronghold for the past two terms.
Other than
Alaka, Ajanta and Jonjonali, who are ULFA-hit widows, there are
some others who were widowed naturally.
Maya Chakravarty,
Congress nominee from Lumding, is Debesh Chakravarty’s widow.
Debesh, former Lumding MLA and Assam Speaker, died last year.
Hemaprabha
Saikia, former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia’s widow, is another
such. She has been the Congress candidate from Nazira since 1996
.
Their AGP counterpart
is Renupoma Rajkhowa, who will defend Teok. Wife of late AGP leader
Lalit Chandra Rajkhowa, Renu-poma has represented Teok from 1991
after her husband died in an accident in 1990. She is now the state
Deputy Speaker.
Another nominee
widowed similarly is Sushila Hazarika, AGP MLA from Dergaon. Nalin
Hazarika died in an accident while on his way home after filing
his nomination in 1996.
Of all the women
in the fray this time, Congress’ Jibantara Ghatowar is the
cynosure of most eyes. The wife of Lok Sabha member Paban Singh
Ghatowar will fight from Moran, home town of the Ghatowars. Party
insiders say Jibantara is a dummy candidate who will vacate her
seat if Congress secures a majority. Apparently, she is simply preparing
the ground for her ambitious husband to take over as the state’s
next chief minister.
|
