Journal of Global Resources

Volume 2January 2016
Page 186-189
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

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THE ROLE OF ASSAM GANA PARISHAD AS AN OPPOSITION IN ASSAM LEGISLATIVEASSEMBLY, ON THE ISSUE OF RIVER LINKAGE 2001-2006
Amar Jit Singh Bhui
Associate Professor, Dept. Political Science, Lanka Mahavidyalaya, Lanka, Assam, India

Abstract: In 2001 Assam Legislative Assembly Elections the Congress (I) formed thegovernment and the AGP was recognized officially as the Opposition in the Assembly. In
this article it has examined the role of AGP as an Opposition in the Assam Legislative
Assembly from 2001 to 2006 mainly on one specific issue that is river linkage in Assam.
The River linkage is a project aimed at linking two or more rivers by creating a network ofcanals and covering land areas that otherwise does not have access to river water. Bymeans of river linkage, the flow of water from river to sea can be reduced. It is based on theassumptions that surplus water in some rivers can be diverted to Deficit Rivers by creating a
network of canals to interconnect various rivers. The AGP-led Opposition raised the issueof River Linkage where it was alleged that the water of Brahmaputra would be diverted by
the Union Government to other states. On this issue, the Opposition tabled a proposal that
implication for meeting the future challenge of water scarcity that included linking up
Brahmaputra with major rivers and tributaries of the country to mitigate the problem of flood
but at the same time drought should not be detrimental to the state. The execution of suchproject would be a complicated one because many unforeseen social, political andenvironmental aspect are involved with it apart from the technical intricacies whoseacceptable solution are yet to emerge. It was also alleged that environmental impact related
to the project has not been properly assessed. The study also revealed that the Opposition(AGP) was not clear on the entire issue either to support or to reject the project. At the end
the project was not materialized.
Keywords: Water, Assam Ganga Parishad, River Linkage, River Brahmaputra
Introduction
The existence of Opposition is the most distinctive characteristic of parliamentary democracy;
it is its life blood. Democracy admits of dissent and conflict
whichgiverise toOpposition.
Parliamentary democracy needs
an Opposition most if it is to function
effectively and successfully. No leader or party can overcome the temptation of becoming
dictatorial, autocratic and arrogant in the absence of the watchful eye of a strong, viable,
well-informed, vigilant Opposition. It is the Opposition that can expose the mistakes, theerrors, the failures, the corruption, the lack of honesty and integrity, the readiness toresort to most unscrupulous methods and means to achieve the ends and objectives of therulers. A healthy and strong opposition is capable of refusing to approve the policies of rulers
and sanctioning funds to carry on its work. It is able to vote the rulers out of power which is notpossible for anyone to do through any other medium. Through other means one may be able
to criticize the rulers, create a strong public opinion, make the people conscious of the fault;
and failures of the rulers and even ask people to revolt. But if it is a democracy, if there ismore than one political party, if the opponent and dissidents have a voice, then it is theOpposition party that can bring the government down. The Assam Legislative Assembly had186

its Opposition and the Opposition played its role from 2001-06. The Assam Legislative
Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Dispur, thecapital of Assam, geographically situated in present Western Assam region. The legislative
assembly comprises 126 members directly elected from single-seat constituencies. The termof the assembly is 5 years, unless sooner dissolved.
Eleventh Elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly
In the Eleventh elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly held in 2001, Congress (I) wasvoted to power, and the AGP, ASDC (U), BJP, NCP, AITC, SAP, SP and 19 independent
members were in Opposition.
Table 1: Party Position in the Assam Legislative AssemblySr. No.

Name of the party

1

Indian National Congress-I (INC-I)
Name of the parties in Opposition
Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDCU)
Samata Party (SAP)

12345678Samajwadi Party (SP)National Congress Party NCP)
All India Trinmool Congress (AITC)
IndependentTotalSource: Election Department, Government of Assam 2001.

Number of Member ofLegislative Assembly70Total
702082113119125

55125

As shown in table, the ruling Congress (I) party had the strength of 70 members atthe time of the formation of the government. The Congress (I) contested in 125
constituencies and had won 70 seats. The AGP won 20 seats, ASDC (U)-2, BJP-8, NCP-3,AITC-1, SAP-1, SP-1 and independent -19. The performance of the political parties in 2001
elections is shown in the Table. After the elections results were declared, the AGP wasrecognized officially as the Opposition in the Assembly. In this article it has examined therole of AGP as an Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2006
mainly on one specific issue that is river linkage in Assam. The role played by theOpposition on the issue was confined in the Assam Legislative Assembly only.
River Linkage
River linkage is a project aimed at linking two or more rivers by creating a network of canals
and covering land areas that otherwise does not have access to river water. By means ofriver linkage, the flow of water from river to sea can be reduced. It is based on theassumptions that surplus water in some rivers can be diverted to Deficit Rivers by creating a
network of canals to interconnect various rivers. In fact, the proposal to create a networkof rivers and canals was made in detail way back in 1881 by Arthur Cotton during theBritish rule, which the Indian Government had approved with some modifications. A note on
the National Water Grid was earlier prepared by the then Central Water and Power
Commission of India (1972), and the possible alignments for the Ganga-Cauvery link
along with other links were brought out. Further studies were made by Dr. K. L. Rao whoadvocated one of the alignments for the Ganga-Cauvery link along with a few other links
including the Brahmaputra and Ganga to transfer 1800 to 3000 cubic meters water per
second. According to the proposal, Central Government wanted to divert 173 Billion Cubic187

Meters (BCM) per year from the Brahmaputra to the other parts of India. On August 14, 2002,
the President of India proclaimed the Central Government’s policy initiative on network ofrivers for eliminating the scourges of the cycle of drought and flood that would promote
the economic advancement of India. The AGP-led Opposition raised the issue of River
Linkage which was reported in the local daily newspaper, The Asomiya Pratidin, onNovember 9, 2002 with the caption as “National Water Development Agency and Assam”
where it was alleged that the water of Brahmaputra would be diverted by the Union
Government to other states. The Union Government had formed a high level commission
chaired by Suresh Prabhu, former Water Resources Minister, Government of India, forfurther studies on the project. On this issue, the Opposition tabled a proposal thatimplication for meeting the future challenge of water scarcity that included linking up
Brahmaputra with major rivers and tributaries of the country to mitigate the problem of flood
but at the same time drought should not be detrimental to the state. In this connection, theOpposition alleged that apparently such a move of the Union Government of India appeared
to mitigate the problem of drought in some states of India and hardly there was any intentionof solving the perennial flood and erosion problem of Assam. There were reasons toapprehend that in the event of linking the Brahmaputra with major rivers and tributaries of thecountry, the potentialities of generating hydroelectric power from the Brahmaputra and its
major tributaries would be greatly reduced. Therefore, before any official agreement on theproposal, the Government of Assam should carry out a thorough scientific study withactive support from the Government of India to understand implicitly the pros and cons ofthe proposal. The Opposition demanded the opinion of government on the river linkage
scheme of the Union Government.
On the demand of the Opposition, the Minister of Flood Control,
Government of Assam, stated that the Central Water Development Agency did not inform thestate government to divert water from River Brahmaputra by connecting with River Ganges.
Secondly, the Central Water Development Council had adopted a water policy for the wholecountry and the circular was issued to the Government of Assam. The Council had formed
the task force to prepare a draft policy to connect the River Brahmaputra with RiverGanges. However, the progress and the new development were not informed. At the sametime, the Minister of Flood Control, stated that as per the Constitution of India, water
development is within the state list. So, to prepare any policy, the consent of the state
government would be essential. The Minister concerned informed the House that thegovernment would decide the issue in consultation with all the political parties, associations
and the scientist of the state. One of the prominent members of Opposition, Prafulla Kumar
Mahanta, supported the scheme of river linkage citing the reason that if after irrigation, power
generation and development of fisheries, there would still be surplus of water in River
Brahmaputra, and then there was no point of objecting the proposal. It was observed that theOpposition member stated that the source of water starts from China which had alreadystarted the river linkage in their country. The state government required to take the help of
the Central Government to create pressure on China not to take the water from River
Brahmaputra. The Opposition stated that if China would not stop the river linkage scheme
then it would be a big problem for Assam.
The Opposition raised questions on the proposed River Linkage scheme of theCentral Government such as whether steps were be taken in the direction of connecting theRiver Brahmaputra with the rivers of the other parts of India, whether the river linkage scheme
would create problems for Assam in future, whether the state government had made aneffort to study the river linkage scheme, and if state government had studied the scheme and if188

so, whether the scheme would be acceptable by the state government. The Minister of FloodControl informed the House that the Government of India had given the responsibility toNational Water Development Agency to prepare the draft proposal for the river linkage.
Government of Assam was not in a position to inform the House as the proposal was not
finalized as yet by Government of India. The interview with the prominent leaders of the thenruling party (Congress-I) and the Opposition (AGP) revealed that the Opposition as well as thethen ruling party had the same opinion that the interest of the state must not be compromised
while accepting and implementing the scheme. The study found that right from the early part of2003 the issue of mega river linkage project mooted by the central government became aheated topic of discussion. The mega project was estimated to cost about Rs. 5600000 crores.
It was proposed to materialize the project by the year 2016. The execution of such project
would be a complicated one because many unforeseen social, political and environmental
aspect are involved with it apart from the technical intricacies whose acceptable solution are
yet to emerge. It was also alleged that environmental impact related to the project has notbeen properly assessed. The study also revealed that the Opposition (AGP) was not clear on
the entire issue either to support or to reject the project. To finalise its decision as reported in
the local daily, The Assam Tribune, on January 30, 2003, with the caption, “AGP Panel tostudy Impact of River Linkage” the AGP-led Opposition had engaged an expert committee tostudy on the issue of river linkage project before forming an opinion. Apart from the AGP’sstand point, the project was opposed by Abani Bhagabati, a Reader in the Department ofGeography, Guahati University. It was stated that the talk about the availability of surplus
water in the Brahmaputra and Barak River basin were misleading as there was no systematic
assessment made on the availability and potential water use in these two basins. It was statedthat because of scarcity of water even the progressive farmers in many areas of Assam had
failed to cultivate land during the winter season. It was argued that the mega project would
also affect biodiversity aspect of the North East.
Conclusion
The study found that the Opposition had a diverse opinion and the state government did nothave any concrete plan on the issue of river linkage. The Opposition was however,successful in making the government agree on constituting an expert committee inconsultation with all political parties, associations and the scientists of the state. At the end
the project was not materialized.
References
1. Ganga Brahmaputra Linkage”, The Assam Tribune, March 10, 2003, Guwahati.
2. National Water Development Agency and Assam”, The Asomiya Pratidin,November 9, 2002, Guwahati.
3. Assam Legislative Assembly Debate, February 28, 2003, No. 3, pp. 81-83.
4. Assam Legislative Assembly Debate, March 2, 2005, No. 2, pp. 44-45.
5. Based on the interviews with leaders of AGP and Congress (I) from September 13 to20, 2013 in Guwahati.

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