Congress rewards rebel Ranajit by making him president of Youth Congress; Will he manage to strengthen the party?

Cachar Congress has seen a mass exodus of youth from the party. Most of them have left as the Dev-family could never motivate them. Youngsters of this generation need a clear picture of their potential growth. Congress in Cachar started with the Dev-family and ended in Tarapur where the Dev-family resides. Rest were just vote banks and so the youth got dejected.

After Sushmita Dev, daughter of former Minister, Sontosh Mohan Dev and former MLA, Bithika Dev, a third generation Congress member, who herself was an elected MP, resigned and left the party last August to join the AITMC, the splits in Congress opened up. She took with her Ronnie Dutta and Mashuk Ahmed, both recognised highly in the district’s youth politics.

All eyes were on Javed Aktar Laskar, the then Youth Congress President of the district. When Sushmita Dev moved on, Javed was three years into the tenure of president. Before that, he was the NSUI president. During the 2021 elections, Javed was more prominent in AIUDF candidate Karim Uddin Barbhuiya’s campaign. Yes, Barbhuiya was a candidate fielded by the grand alliance that Congress was a part of, but the Youth Congress president’s role in Silchar candidate’s campaign remained questionable. It became evident that Javed was either not included or he didn’t volunteer.

Congress was devastated in the election, especially in Silchar. Karimuddin Barbhuiya, on the other hand, won the election with a huge margin against incumbent MLA, BJP’s Aminul Haque Laskar. Javed kept sliding towards the AIUDF since then. Did not utter a word publicly against the AIUDF when the party’s Supremo targeted Congress’ most promising Politician in Barak Valley, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha. The writing on the wall was evident, Javed’s tenure is about to end. But then who’s next, was the question.

After Sushmita Dev’s departure, Congress was in splits. Many splits. Sushmita Dev loyalists who didn’t leave the party formed a cohort. Another group were the Dev-rebels. Then there were those typical Congress workers for whom, Congress Bhawan was the temple. They tried to calm. Eventually, it was two big splits. Team – Abhijit Paul and Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha backed team-Tamal Banik. Abhijit Paul’s group wanted him as the District Congress president while the Pradesh Congress, influenced by Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha were bestowing trust on Banik.

It went to the extent that Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha’s effigy was burnt inside the Congress Bhawan premises drawing attention of not just Dispur but Delhi. It was time to bring the house in order. Tamal Banik, the Congress’ 11th hour candidate in 2021 General Elections to the Assembly was announced as the president of District Congress. Abhijit Paul and his loyalists uploaded many posts on Facebook criticizing the decision.

However, APCC has balanced it. Ranajit Debnath has been announced as the president of Cachar Youth Congress. Even his fiercest competitor agrees that Ranajit deserves it. He sat on protests, went to jail, rebelled within the party, against the BJP, mobilised troops during the election campaigns, basically gave it his all. Though Ranajit was in team Abhijit Paul and against Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha’s involvement in Cachar Politics, his efforts were rewarded. The task ahead for him is challenging. He has to remain friend with Javed and at the same time rejuvenate the ones who have given up.

But right up front, he has to deal with an emerging crisis. A handful of Hindu voters, a very small size of the tea-garden pie and the hardcore congress loyalists, apart from these cohorts, Congress has only retained the Muslim voters. Now, District Congress president is Hindu, Youth Congress president is Hindu, while it is understood that it is an attempt to get the Hindu voters back, how to retain the Muslim voters?

A man in Youth Congress could have done that, his name is Raja Laskar. As active as Ranajit Debnath if not more, Raja is another face of the Congress’ youth activities. He is vocal about all incidents, prominent in public life yet he has been named the Vice President and not the Working President, something that has irked a large section of the minority voters among the Congress. Pallav Kumar Singh, who has been appointed as the Working President, most argue is a boy originally from Karimganj. He is from team Kamalakhya. So, for Ranajit, he first needs to get his own house in order as there are rebels in all quarters. Then he needs to take on the most difficult tasks that his seniors in the party have miserably failed – depolarise the youth of his district.