The two terms of chief minister Tarun Gogoi have arguably been the best in decades as regards the pace of rural and urban development in Assam.
Over the years, Gogoi’s philosophy has been that development begets peace. His government took a series of development initiatives. It realised that a state cannot prosper unless the rural areas and their economy are improved. So, most of the government’s development schemes were rural-oriented.
The mandate 2011 showed the Congress’ focus on striking peace deals with myriad militant outfits — the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) primarily —worked.
The Congress realised it could not contain militancy by using force. So, it adopted the carrot-and-stick policy, sending feelers to the leaders of Ulfa and other outfits. Things started looking up since 2009 when several top guns were arrested in Bangladesh paving ways for subsequent peace initiative with the centre.
Gogoi himself said that the people voted Congress for bringing peace and development. Other than Gogoi’s clean image, the success also depended on the managerial and troubleshooting skills of health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He is a master of dribbling out adversities - this included his alleged involvement in the Rs1000-cr scam in a hill district council. He came up with an answer, most often logical, to almost everything the opposition had hurled at the Congress.
