Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in Guwahati on Tuesday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, Oct. 14: The AGP today began the process of identifying the factors responsible for the party’s alienation from the people.

The process was set in motion with the inauguration of the party’s two-day political convention here today, which is being seen as a desperate attempt by the beleaguered party to prepare a road map to regain the trust of the people.

Its founding president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta set the tone for the day by admitting that the party may have made mistakes in the past but it was also important to dwell on its achievements. A section within the AGP attributed the decline of the party to Mahanta’s leadership in tackling issues such as those on secret killings and foreigners.

Hundreds of delegates attended the convention which also marked 29 years of existence of the regional party which was born out of the six-year-long Assam Agitation.

Inaugurating the convention, litterateur Homen Borgohain urged the party’s leadership to do a soul-search to find out why the party, once adored by the people, has been alienated from the people today. “Perhaps this is the last opportunity for the party to rectify its past mistakes to win back people’s trust,” Borgohain said.

He said regionalism is still relevant to secure the interests of the state as national parties cannot fulfil the hopes and aspirations of the people of the state. “Need for a strong regional party is still being felt in the state,” he said.

Prominent leaders of the party, including Brindaban Goswami, Thaneswar Boro, Phani Bhusan Choudhury, Keshab Mahanta, Kamalakanta Kalita, Ramendra Narayan Kalita, among others, were present at the meeting.

Borgohain said in its bid to regain lost ground, the party must remember that no individual is bigger than the party.

“Personal commitment of the leaders is a must to bring about a positive change and reintroduce the party to the people in a new form,” he said.

The AGP, which was elected to power in 1985 and 1996, has fared poorly in all the elections since its ouster from power in 2001.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, the party contested 12 of the 14 seats in the state but failed to win even a single seat which subsequently saw Mahanta quit as the president owning moral responsibility for the debacle.

Borgohain hoped that the convention would pave the way for the revival of the party and make it acceptable to the people.

Several prominent persons who are not from the party, such as former Independent MLA Buban Pegu, KMSS leader Kamal Kumar Medhi and Mising community leader Ronoj Pegu, among others, also attended the convention and put forward their suggestions to revive the party.

The second day of the convention tomorrow will have two sessions. The first one will be inaugurated by writer Hiren Gohain at 10am. The topic of this session will be “An action plan to revitalise the AGP”.

This will be followed by another session, which will be inaugurated by former president of Asam Sahitya Sabha president Kanak Sen Deka at 3pm. In the last session, suggestions will be received from citizens.