COMMUNAL CALCULATIONS

THERE WAS JUBILATION IN the Opposition ranks last month when the Congress and Badruddin Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF)—along with the Left parties and the newly formed Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM)—announced a grand alliance for the Assam assembly election. Though the Left drew a blank in the previous two assembly polls and the AGM is just a few months old, analysts feel the grand alliance holds the advantage in at least 46 of the 126 assembly seats, subject to one condition—a consolidation of the Muslim vote in its favour.

According to the 2011 Census, 35 per cent of Assam’s population is Muslim, a higher proportion than in any other state. Unofficial estimates put this figure at over 40 per cent. A strong contender for their votes is the AIUDF, which was formed in 2005 on the