The large-scale influx of infiltrators from the south and the north-west has compounded fears of insecurity and large-scale land alienation. Infiltration has been a fall-out of not merely recent government policies, but once formed a part of the colonial government's moves to resettle and develop the region.
The death of 20 children in Assam following the administration of vitamin A supplementation as part of a UNICEF-aided campaign throws open once again an old debate in public health policy. It exposes the dismal lack of coordination at various levels on issues and programmes which are vital to the health and lives of vulnerable populations. It is also an ironic pointer to the inertia in policy-making such that the state fails to reckon with the positive outcomes of socioeconomic development, however small, over the decades.
Assam is witnessing an interesting phenomenon: the disintegration of Assamese ethnic chauvinism which has dominated political discourse in the state. This has resulted in the fragmentation of right wing parties, which in a situation of acute economic and political crisis might well pave the way for a return to the more important agenda: economic development and federal reorganisation of the state such that its many ethnic groups all feel empowered.
The success of the AGP-NDA alliance will depend on how successfully the AGP allays the fears of the minorities over the BJP's communal agenda. The AGP's support base has been eroded by its non-performance and rampant corruption in the government. The minorities may well incline towards the Congress in the absence of other choices. But with the likelihood of a minority front being formed, the electoral prospects for the Congress are not so bright either.
