Muslim Politics in Assam: The Case of AIUDF

AuthorMonoj Kumar Nath
DOI10.1177/2321023019838648
Published date01 June 2019
Date01 June 2019
Article
Muslim Politics in Assam:
The Case of AIUDF
Monoj Kumar Nath1
Abstract
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) was formed in 2005 as Assam United Democratic Front
(AUDF). It represents Muslim politics in contemporary Assam. In the 2006 and 2011 Assam Assembly
elections (AAE), AIUDF showed continuous success, though it could not gain substantially in the
communally polarized 2016 Assembly elections. With this backdrop, the present article is an attempt
to understand contemporary Muslim politics in Assam through AIUDF. It argues that AIUDF was
an attempt by a group of Muslim leaders in Assam, mainly from Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (Jamiat), to share
power in the name of Muslims and the party was made relevant in Assam politics by Congress through
its soft Hindutva politics. It also argues that increasing dominance of AIUDF in Assam elections created
ground for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to grow and to form government in 2016.
Keywords:
Assam Movement, BJP, communalism, IM (DT) Act, Jamiat, polarization
Introduction
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a Muslim political party, has been considered a key player
in Assam politics. Even though Muslims constitute more than one-third of the total population of the
state (34.22% in the 2011 census), the party could not secure more than 13 per cent of the votes polled
during the last 3 Assam Assembly elections. Two factors merit attention. First, the emergence of AIUDF
in Assam under the direct patronage of Assam Jamiat and second, failure of the party to attract a large
section of Muslims of the state to its fold despite the fact that the community has always remained
deprived and neglected under successive governments. This article attempts to address both these issues.
Muslim Politics in Assam Since Independence
Muslims in Assam can be divided into two broad categories on the basis of time of immigration to Assam:
indigenous and immigrant. Muslims whose ancestors migrated to Assam until the state was taken over by
Studies in Indian Politics
7(1) 33–43, 2019
© 2019 Lokniti, Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/2321023019838648
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1 Department of Political Science, Nowgong College, Nagaon, Assam, India.
Corresponding author:
Monoj Kumar Nath, Department of Political Science, Nowgong College, A. T. Road, Nagaon, Assam 782001, India.
E-mail: mknath2007@rediffmail.com

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