2 weeks ago
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Three women have represented the Guwahati seat in the Lok Sabha since the first post-Emergency election in 1977.
A former Bharatiya Janata Party leader believes she can still be a trendsetter — as the first woman from Congress to get a berth in Parliament from a seat associated with the largest urban centre in the Northeast.
Mira Borthakur Goswami, 51, has been one of the strongest critics of the BJP, the party she was expelled from in 2018. She has also been one of the most visible leaders of Congress, which she joined in 2021.
She is banking on her groundwork to be the first past the post when the election results are declared on June 4. The only hurdle before her is the 45-year-old Bijuli Kalita Medhi of the BJP because six other contestants — all males, including a former Colonel — are unlikely to put up a fight.
Both Ms. Goswami and Ms. Medhi are debutants.
“The people want to give Congress a chance as they are fed up with the lies the BJP have sold them in the name of guarantees. Women are bearing the brunt of the BJP’s misrule,” Ms. Goswami said.
Her campaign has been buoyed by the support from members of 15 political parties in the Congress-led United Opposition Forum Assam, the State avatar of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance. This was not the case in 2019 when Congress candidate Bobbeeta Sharma lost to the BJP’s Queen Oja by more than 3.5 lakh votes.
“Mira has more visibility than the BJP candidate, who is not known much despite having been the Deputy Mayor (of Guwahati in 2016),” Ms. Sharma told The Hindu.
“As a convent-educated dedicated party worker, Ms Medhi is known to those who matter — the common people comprising the backbone of the BJP. We expect her to win by a good margin,” BJP leader Dhrubajyoti Moral said.
Represented by Praja Socialist Party’s Hem Barua, known as the most astute and articulate parliamentarian from Assam ever, Guwahati is a prestigious constituency where even the likes of music maestro Bhupen Hazarika failed to win on a BJP ticket in 2004.
The first woman to win the seat was Renuka Devi Barkakati of the Janata Party in 1977. The second was the BJP’s Bijoya Chakravarty, a former Union Minister, in 1999.
Ms. Chakravarty wrested the seat from Kirip Chaliha of Congress in 2009 and retained it in 2014 before the BJP replaced her with Ms Oja.
Guwahati has more than 20.19 lakh votes. The constituency goes to the polls in the third phase on May 7 along with Barpeta, Dhubri, and Kokrajhar.
