Perfumer to likely kingmaker, Badruddin Ajmal at the centre of Assam politics

It took him over 15 years, but Badruddin Ajmal is now at the centre of politics in Assam. Thanks largely to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s offensive against him, the perfume baron-turned-politician’s party, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), is in prime focus in the ongoing assembly polls and could well emerge as kingmaker on May 2 when results are declared.

Started by Ajmal in October 2005, as a reaction to Supreme Court scrapping the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, AIUDF has been a key player in Assam in past polls. But this is the first time when it is being portrayed as potential “destroyers of Assam’s culture and identity”, while, at the same time, being seen as deciding factor in formation of the next government.

Who is Badruddin Ajmal?

The question may seem irrelevant now. But the 65-year-old postgraduate in Islamic theology and Arabic from Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, who is known as “maulana”, was not a familiar name in Assam politics till two decades ago. He was busy with his family perfume business, which is a leading brand in many countries especially in West Asia.

Ajmal used to wear many hats even before entering politics. Besides the family business, he was engaged in philanthropic and social work, including setting up hospitals, education institutes, providing avenues for skill development to thousands, building orphanages etc.

In 2005, Supreme Court scrapped IMDT, an act meant only for Assam and seen as providing a shield to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and replaced it with Foreigners Act (applicable all over India). This led to apprehension of harassment among minorities, especially Bengali Muslims, who had moved to Assam from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in batches over the past century and settled across central and lower Assam.

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Amid this, Ajmal gathered over a dozen political organisations of minorities and formed Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) in October 2005. The party was later renamed as the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). With the formation of the new party, a sizeable section of the Bengali Muslim population, a traditional Congress vote bank, switched loyalty to AIUDF.

In its electoral debut, AIUDF won 10 of the total 126 seats in the 2006 assembly polls. The party increased its tally to 18 seats in 2011. Five years ago, it managed to win 13 seats.

But despite the electoral successes, Ajmal and his party couldn’t find acceptability or become part of government. In 2011, former Congress chief minister Tarun Gogoi famously said “Who is Badruddin?” when questioned about possibility of tie-up with Ajmal’s party for the assembly polls.

The new political equation and backlash

The equation, however, changed in the next few years with AIUDF and Congress inching closer to each other and even having an informal, albeit limited, electoral understanding during the last assembly and Lok Sabha polls. With the rise of BJP in Assam, both parties felt the need to join forces.

Formal talks about a pre-poll tie up for the assembly election started last year and a deal was sealed in January this year. Three Left parties and newly formed Anchalik Gana Morcha also joined the alliance. The “mahajot” or grand alliance got another boost with a former BJP ally, the Bodoland Peoples’ Front, joining it. After several rounds of discussion, it was decided that Congress will contest 95 seats while AIUDF would put up candidates in 20 seats.

The Congress’s alliance with AIUDF gave fodder to BJP to target both parties in general, and Ajmal in particular. As part of a strategy, the BJP decided to project this election as a clash of civilizations and projected a threat to Assamese identity, culture and language if Ajmal came to power. The idea was to instil fear among indigenous Hindu voters that if AIUDF and Congress win, infiltrators from Bangladesh would flood Assam.

“The Congress, which fired at protesters during the Assam agitation to oust illegal immigrants, has no right to ask for votes. As if it was not enough, the party is now riding piggyback on Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF. Can a party which joins hands with AIUDF stop infiltration?” said Shah at a rally at Bijni on Wednesday. “Rahul Gandhi, who comes to Assam for picnic, says Ajmal is Assam’s identity. Can Ajmal be Assam’s identity instead of persons like Srimanta Sankardev, Bhupen Hazarika, Upendra Nath Brahma? Congress may try, but we will not allow Assam’s identity to change,” he added.

Also Read | AIUDF’s Badruddin Ajmal hits back at PM Modi, Amit Shah with ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’ comment

With the aim to portray the AIUDF chief as anti-national, Legal Rights Observatory, an NGO with right-wing leanings, blamed Ajmal Foundation, a charitable trust started by Ajmal in 2005, of Foreign (Contribution Regulation) Act violations and taking funds from foreign agencies with terror links. In March, the same NGO released a doctored video of a speech by Ajmal, which tried to show that if Congress-AIUDF came to power, Assam would turn into an Islamic state. The AIUDF chief denied all charges of misuse of foreign funds and clarified that the video was edited.

The arithmetic on paper

“Who has the lock and key (AIUDF’s polls symbol)? If the lock and key don’t move, no ministry can be formed,” Ajmal said at Dalgaon on Tuesday indicating that he will play a decisive role in formation of the next government and distribution of ministries. He has maintained that he is being targeted as the BJP government in Assam failed to do any development work in the past five years.

In 2016, the Congress got nearly 31% of the total votes and won 26 seats while its current alliance partners, AIUDF, with 13 seats, cornered 13% of the vote and BPF, with 12 seats, won 4%. On the other hand, the BJP got 29.5% votes and won 60 seats. Going by 2016 figures, the Congress-AIUDF-BPF alliance could spring a surprise on BJP, at least on paper.

“Thanks to the BJP, Ajmal and AIUDF have become the most important poll issue in Assam this time. Instead of using their work in past five years, the saffron party chose to focus on clash of civilizations and Assamese culture. It will remain to be seen if the strategy works or Ajmal has the last laugh,” said Akhil Ranjan Dutta, professor of political science at Gauhati University.

While AIUDF doesn’t have much influence in seats which went to polls in first phase (the party won just one seat of the 47 in 2016) on March 27, its influence will be visible in the second and third phases which will go to polls on April 1 and April 6.