The Rediff Interview/Outgoing Assam CM Prafulla Mahanta

Five years to the day, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was being sworn by the governor of Assam as the state's chief minister for the second time.

Today, sitting in the headquarters of the Asom Gana Parishad, Mahanta is in a sombre mood. Understandably so.

Having been ousted from power by the Congress, he and other senior party colleagues are searching for answers for their comprehensive defeat. After handing in his resignation as chief minister on May 14, Mahanta is now waiting for his predecessor to take over.

In an interview to G Vinayak, Assam's outgoing chief minister tries to analyse what went wrong. Excerpts:

What main reasons do you attribute for your party's [the alliance with BJP] defeat?

There are three main reasons as I can see immediately. One, the people, especially the government employees, were angry with us for not having been able to pay their salaries on time. But as you know, the state's financial condition is precarious because of several factors not in our control.

Secondly, the first three years of our second term in power [since 1996] went by in trying to control insurgency. Most of the money was also spent in counter-insurgency operations, so there was hardly any money left for development work. And finally, the reasons for our alliance with the BJP did not reach our workers, leave alone the masses, in time, so people were confused.

So, in retrospect, was the alliance a mistake?

No, it wasn't and is not, but it should have come earlier so that we would have been able to explain the reasons for forging such a tie-up to everyone.

So, will the alliance stay in the near future?

Yes, it will. At least from our side we don't see any problem, although the BJP will have to curb a lot of loose talk indulged in by some of their senior leaders. In fact, it will not be out of place to mention that irresponsible statements by a couple of leaders at the state level cost us dearly.

You had charged the Congress with being in nexus with militant groups throughout your campaign. How far was it true?

It is a fact. We received several intelligence reports that said that ULFA [United Liberation Front of Asom] militants went round interior villages and threatened people with dire consequences if they voted for our alliance. The people were told they would face the music after the elections since this time counting of votes was to be done polling boothwise. [The normal practice in Assam in the last three elections was to mix the ballot papers of different polling booths before counting so as to avoid identification.]

So even though people came out in large numbers to vote, they voted for the Congress under pressure from the militants. If you see the results closely, we have lost at least 20 seats by the narrowest of margins [less than 1,000 votes, in some cases, even less than 500].

What does the future hold for you and the party? Does this mean the end of regional forces in Assam?

We will have to sit down, introspect, analyse what went wrong and start anew. We will have to get in more young blood in the party. And no, regionalism cannot end in Assam since the hopes and aspirations of the people can ultimately be fulfilled by regional forces alone.

Design: Dominic Xavier

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