Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to the polls on May 7, has been held by the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Maulana Badruddin Ajmal since 2009. However, Congress and NDA ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) have fielded strong candidates this time, hoping to spring a surprise there.
In the constituency, where Muslims comprise 55pc of the population, Badruddin Ajmal is pitted against Congress’s Rakibul Hussain, who is currently Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Assembly, and AGP’s Zabed Islam who contested from the constituency in the 2019 election also but came third.
Before 2009 when Badruddin Ajmal first contested from Dhubri, the constituency was a Congress stronghold.
The fact that Ajmal has been winning the last three elections from here with considerable vote margins from his nearest rival shows his hold over the constituency.
Though Muslims constitute 55% of the population, the constituency’s demography is pretty diverse with Hindus constituting 40%, Scheduled Castes (SC) 3.5%, Scheduled Tribes (ST) 5.7%, and other religious groups 5%.
Rakibul Hussain is a political heavyweight and he has been representing the Samaguri Assembly constituency since 2001. The choice of Rakibul Hussain as its candidate shows that Congress wants to put up a strong fight against the AIUDF chief.
While, Zabed Islam is AGP MLA from the Manakchar Lok Sabha constituency. He was also nominated from Dhubri as AGP’s candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
AGP is confident that this time it will have representation in Lok Sabha in 2019 the party drew a blank.
The sitting MP can take credit for some infrastructure projects such as the construction of the Dhubri Phulbari Bridge, the establishment of Rupsi Airport, and the development of Dhubri Medical College. But many see him as a rabble-rouser politician wanting to encash the religious sentiments of the Muslims.
Ajmal recently courted controversy when he advised Muslims to avoid train travel during the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. He is a bitter critic of BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He once called the BJP the “biggest enemy of Muslims”.
Though he is a strong opponent of the BJP, his effort to be part of the INDIA bloc did not succeed.
Congress has doubled down on its criticism against AIUDF with the party’s general secretary (organisation) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in an election rally here alleging that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has a “secret understanding” with Ajmal.
The Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency comprises Assembly segments of Mankachar, Salmara South, Dhubri, Gauripur, Golakganj, Bilasipara West, Bilasipara East, Goalpara East, Goalpara West, and Jaleswar.
During the campaigns, Ajmal mainly trained his gun on his Congress opponent Rakibul Hassan. He alleged that Hassan neglected Dhubri during his 15-year-old tenure as a minister in the Assam government.
He alleged that Hassan does not show enough sensitivity to the concerns of the minorities. He blames Hassan and Congress for Dhubri having a lot of D-voters or doubtful voters and detention camps.
When Ajmal first contested in 2009 he won the constituency with 51.7 per cent of the vote share. In 2014 it was 43.3 per cent and in 2019 42.7 per cent.
In the 2019 election, Ajmal bagged 718,764 votes, Congress’s Abu Taher Bepari 492,506 votes and AGP’s Zabed Islam 399,733 votes.
