Interview: ‘Congress Is Actual Anti-Muslim Party, Not BJP’, Says Long-Time Congress Associate And Dhubri Lok Sabha Candidate Zabed Islam

Zabed Islam has been a long-time associate of the Congress party. His father, Zahirul Islam, a five-term member of legislative assembly (MLA) from Mankachar in Lower Assam, was a minister in the Congress government. Zabed, 56, himself cut his political teeth in the Congress.

But Zabed is now a vocal critic of the Congress and of the ‘Congressi culture’ which, he says, has kept the country, especially Muslims, underdeveloped.

Having discovered "the true nature of the Congress," he cut off all ties with the party nine years ago and joined the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam.

The soft-spoken, articulate, down-to-earth, and genteel Zabed has been fielded from the overwhelmingly Muslim-majority Dhubri Lok Sabha seat by his party (AGP). He is being actively supported by the BJP.

In a freewheeling interview with Swarajya early Friday morning (3 May), Zabed lists out his reasons for calling the Congress an ‘anti-Muslim party’ that ‘had taken Muslims for a ride’, his campaign pledges, and his electoral prospects.

You have a long association with the Congress. Why did you leave the Congress?

I left because I got to know the true face of the Congress. I have been associated with the Congress for many decades and no one knows the party better than me. From my experience in the Congress and my association with top Congress leaders, I can say that the Congress is the most anti-Muslim party in India.

I became a member of the NSUI (the students’ wing of the Congress) while in college, fought and won college union elections as an NSUI nominee, and then became the NSUI state vice-president. Later on, I joined the Youth Congress and became the general secretary of the Assam Pradesh Youth Congress.

My father won as an independent MLA from Mankachar in 1962 and 1967, and then from the Janata Party in 1978. He joined the Congress and won Mankachar on a Congress ticket in 1983 and again in 1991. He first became a minister in the Golap Borbora (Janata Party) cabinet in 1978 and then under chief minister Hiteswar Saikia (Congress) in 1991.

After my father joined the Congress, I worked very closely with him, met many top Congress leaders — including the Gandhi family — and got to know all about the Congress, what it thinks, how it works, etc.

My disillusionment with the Congress started after my father’s sudden death in 2000 of food poisoning. The party promised my mother, Hosenara Islam, the party ticket for the 2001 assembly election, but since we didn’t bribe senior Congress leaders, she didn’t get the ticket. She contested on a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ticket and won. The Congress candidate lost his security deposit.

But I maintained my ties with the Congress and was given the party ticket for the 2006 assembly election and lost the Mankachar seat by a very narrow margin of 1,600 votes.

However, I was denied the party ticket in 2011 despite chief minister Tarun Gogoi promising to nominate me. Top Congress leaders wanted a huge bribe for the party ticket, and I refused to pay them. So, I was denied the ticket. I contested as an independent candidate and won.

But it was not the denial of ticket that disappointed me. What was very humiliating was the manner in which I was treated by Congress leaders. It was very demeaning and I realised that only money works in the Congress. One has to pay huge sums of money to get the party ticket and for posts.

But even after winning as an independent, you became an ‘associate member’ of the Congress.

Yes, that was because Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was then a senior minister in the Tarun Gogoi ministry, requested me to become an associate member of the Congress in the assembly.

I never joined the Congress formally even though I could have.

What makes you say now that the Congress is an ‘anti-Muslim’ party?

This realisation dawned on me in 2012 during the Kokrajhar riots (the Bodo-Muslim clashes). Kokrajhar is a neighbouring district and I went there to provide relief to the tens of thousands of riot-affected Muslims.

What shocked me was the complete inaction of the Congress governments both at the Centre and in the state. Not only did they do nothing to stop the riots and attacks on Muslims, they did not even provide minimal relief to the affected Muslims.

I stationed myself in the riot-affected areas and was there for three months, but not a single minister or Congress MLA cared to visit the areas and provide succour to the people. The only person who helped was Himanta Biswa Sarma. He provided funds for relief materials. 

One minister, Siddique Ahmed, who was in charge of border areas development in the Tarun Gogoi ministry, voiced his displeasure over government inaction in stopping attacks on Muslims. But he was unceremoniously dropped from the ministry later.

With help from Himanta Biswa Sarma, I provided a lot of relief materials to the riot-affected. But the Congress government was unhappy with my work, and imposed restrictions on my movement in the riot-hit areas. Congress leaders also warned me and threatened me, asking me to leave the Kokrajhar district.

It was then that I realised that the Congress was a totally anti-Muslim party. It pays lip service to Muslims and uses Muslims as vote banks to gain and retain power. The Congress is least interested in the welfare of Muslims.

This is evident from the fact that all over the country, the plight of the Muslims has remained the same since independence till 2014 when the BJP came to power.

The Congress, in fact, wants to keep Muslims poor and backward since it is easy to control a community that is backward. The Congress never wanted Muslims to get educated and prosper because that would take Muslims away from vote-bank politics.

The BJP, on the other hand, is falsely accused of being anti-Muslim when it is actually the party that works for the development of all, irrespective of caste and community.

Look at the BJP’s track record. Since 2016, when the BJP came to power in Assam, not a single communal riot has taken place anywhere in the state. During Congress rule, communal riots were common in Assam.

The BJP’s welfare schemes and projects have benefitted all, including Muslims. The BJP does not discriminate against Muslims. Hence, it is the BJP that is the true friend of Muslims, while the Congress is the enemy of Muslims.

After my bitter experience in Kokrajhar, my disillusionment with the Congress grew, and in 2013 I publicly declared that I will never, ever have any truck with the Congress. I also told the people of Mankachar that time that the Congress will lose power in 2016 and will not be able to return to power because of its sins for a very long time.

Even now the people of Mankachar recall my prediction.

How did you join the AGP?

When Himanta Biswa Sarma staked his rightful claim over the chief minister’s post, I sided with him. The Congress leadership eventually rebuffed him and preferred to continue with Tarun Gogoi even though Sarma had the backing of an overwhelming majority of the Congress MLAs.

When all the Congress dissidents led by Sarma were joining the BJP, he (Himanta Biswa Sarma) told me that since I represent a constituency (Mankachar) with 90 per cent Muslim population and the BJP was still not acceptable to most Muslims, I should join the AGP. That’s how it happened.

I contested the 2016 assembly election as an independent and the Congress poured in a lot of money to defeat me. Ghulam Nabi Azad and Tarun Gogoi campaigned against me and told the people of Mankachar that if I win, Muslims will suffer. I lost by a narrow margin.

I contested again on an AGP ticket in 2021, and even though I got a huge number of votes, I lost because the AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front) and Congress were in alliance. There was a sharp Hindu-Muslim polarisation and so I lost.

What are your prospects this time?

Very good. Things have changed, and Muslims here no longer think that the AGP-BJP combine is against them. Muslims have realised that the ruling (AGP-BJP) alliance in the state is benefitting them.

The various welfare measures of the state and central governments have benefitted Muslims, especially the poor and backward Muslims, a lot. Muslim women have gained from self-help groups set up by the state government. There has been a lot of progress, people have got houses with toilets and piped water connections, roads have been built in rural areas, there has been a lot of infrastructure development.

Muslims have realised that had the BJP been anti-Muslim, all this development and progress would not have happened. Government healthcare facilities have improved vastly, and so has education infrastructure. A number of initiatives in agriculture has improved crop yields; crop insurance has helped farmers a lot.

I believe Muslims of Dhubri will vote for me this time.

Also, there is strong anti-incumbency against (sitting MP and AIUDF founder) Badruddin Ajmal. He has done nothing for the constituency in the 15 years that he has been MP (Member of Parliament). He can be seen here only during elections. 

The Congress candidate, Rakibul Hussain, is an outsider. He was a senior minister for 15 years and was also the minister-in-charge of Dhubri district, but he did nothing for Dhubri. He never stood by Muslims even during the riots.

I also expect to gain from my father’s legacy. He was a very popular leader and worked for all the people.

So, you are saying that the AGP-BJP alliance has a fair chance in this Muslim-majority seat?

Yes, because Muslims are realising that it is development that matters and the AGP-BJP alliance is the best bet for development and progress.

In stark contrast to the troubled past, when insurgency and communalism wracked Assam, peace prevails now, and Muslims, along with everyone else in the state, is benefitting from peace. Muslims have realised that peace is essential for progress. The Congress divided people and instigated trouble in order to stay in power. The AGP-BJP alliance doesn’t play such terrible games.

As I said, Muslims have benefitted a lot from all the welfare schemes and projects, and the development in physical infrastructure, health infrastructure, and education that has happened under the current government.

I am campaigning on the development card and I'm getting a good response. That’s why my hopes are high.