Reflecting on the Assam Assembly elections, president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Prodyut Bora on Thursday wrote a detailed note on Facebook bashing the local media and ‘so-called intellectuals’ who see-sawed on ‘non-issues’.

Terming the 2016 elections as a contest of money power, the LDP president said, “I have observed many elections from close quarters, both as a political manager and participant. But I haven’t seen money power used this way to subvert the democratic system.”

Bora also questioned the way the intellectual community put forth their ‘inconsistent’ views on various issues.

Here’s the full post:

REFLECTING ON THIS ELECTION

Now that the elections are over, people would be speculating on the coming days on who would win. My answer is: money.

I have observed many elections from close quarters, both as a political manager and participant. But I haven’t seen money power used this way to subvert the democratic system.

  1. For more than a fortnight, the local media was “bought” over. In the world of journalism, news and views are kept separate and at arms length. But what we saw in Assam was how news became propaganda. And views? Completely one-sided! After the first few days, I just stopped reading the papers or watching the television debates.
  2. Non-issues became issues. A group of left-oriented intellectuals urged the people to vote for anyone other than BJP. In my view, anyone is free to urge anyone else to vote for–or against–any one party or parties. Isn’t this what campaigning is all about? This “non-issue” about the personal opinion of a few intellectuals became the topmost issue for several days running. This is ridiculousness at its best.
  3. I also saw the inconsistency of the so-called intellectuals. Last October, Homen Borgohain returned his Sahitya Akademi award to protest the rising intolerance in the country, and of the Government. Six months later, he spoke of “Poriborton” in the state. Now, if people are to respond to his call, and usher in a BJP regime, would it mean that the BJP has shed its intolerance? How would he justify his Award Wapsi six months back? Either he was wrong then, or he is wrong now.

Poriborton–change–is not only about a change of the party in power, but an entirely fresh approach to governance. How can those who have had their shot at power for more than a decade, and now have joined BJP’s Poriborton bandwagon, justify their earlier tenure? The Assam Accord Implementation Minister for many, many, years was HBS! And you think anything new is going to happen on the “Bangladeshi” front? Chandramohan Patowary was the Agriculture Minister and Hiten Goswami the Power Minister. How are they going to be any better or worse than the incompetent chaps at the current helm?

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