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The Last Battle of Saraighat: The Story of the BJP's Rise in the North-east
The first-ever account of the BJP's landslide victory in the 2016 Assam legislative assembly elections
The Battle of Saraighat was fought in 1671 between the Ahoms of Assam and the Mughal invaders. In 2016, the BJP centred its strategy for the legislative assembly elections on this historic battle, focusing on issues of illegal migration, constantly invoked in the party's rallies, posters and communication to appeal to the voting public. The historic elections saw the BJP win an overwhelming majority of assembly seats in Assam, where the Congress had been in power for decades. It was a watershed moment that opened the door for the party to the political corridors of the North-east.
In this book, Rajat Sethi and Shubhrastha, political campaigners for the BJP in the North-east, take you behind the scenes of the high-octane electoral drama. They outline the political history of the region, provide details of election strategies employed by the party and explain why they resonated with the local people so strongly. The Last Battle of Saraighat looks at Assam as a case study to explain the rise of the BJP in the North-east and throws light on the key political issues of the region.
The Battle of Saraighat was fought in 1671 between the Ahoms of Assam and the Mughal invaders. In 2016, the BJP centred its strategy for the legislative assembly elections on this historic battle, focusing on issues of illegal migration, constantly invoked in the party's rallies, posters and communication to appeal to the voting public. The historic elections saw the BJP win an overwhelming majority of assembly seats in Assam, where the Congress had been in power for decades. It was a watershed moment that opened the door for the party to the political corridors of the North-east.
In this book, Rajat Sethi and Shubhrastha, political campaigners for the BJP in the North-east, take you behind the scenes of the high-octane electoral drama. They outline the political history of the region, provide details of election strategies employed by the party and explain why they resonated with the local people so strongly. The Last Battle of Saraighat looks at Assam as a case study to explain the rise of the BJP in the North-east and throws light on the key political issues of the region.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published November 22, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 28, 2017
“The Last Battle of Saraighat” is one of the most important books to have come out in recent times. As the authors themselves have stated that there are a lot of highly commendable and scholarly works on Assam by Assamese intellectuals. But there is almost no work from the ‘mainstream’ intellectuals – the perspective of the outsiders. Few people have tried to understand Assam – its geography, its culture, its history, and its politics. Each state of India has its unique brand of politics, and to understand that one needs to put in enormous amounts of time and effort. The research put into this book is highly noticeable. As I have gathered from the authors, they plan on analyzing each North-Eastern state separately, and Assam was the first sample. They have also stated in the very beginning their opinion against simply branding the NE as the ‘seven sisters’. And this is one of the reasons that got me hooked to this book.
Now, coming to the book itself, it is needless to say that the authors intend to analyse the stunning success of the BJP in the 2016 Assembly elections. But to do so, one must go back in history, and take into account the monumental events that have shaped modern day Assam. The authors have weaved a seamless narrative, juxtaposing history and present day. The book begins with the famous battle of Saraighat in which the Ahom forces defeated the invading Mughal Army under the leadership of General Lachit Borphukan. It then jumps to the events leading to the Partition, and the efforts by the towering Gopinath Bordoloi to keep Assam in India. Then comes the Assam Movement – the event mostly remembered by the Assamese people for its impact on our society. The authors have succinctly analysed these monumental events and their relevance in present day politics. The events leading up to the elections itself occupies a large portion of the book (as expected). Having worked on the ground, the authors have been able to provide valuable insights into the election campaign. They haven’t gone soft on the BJP leadership. Criticism has been directed wherever they are deserved.
This book will hopefully serve as a template for analyzing the electoral politics of a state – any state. Rajat Sethi and Shubrastha have produced a phenomenal work. The narrative moves so smoothly that I was reminded of the time I read ‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich’ by William Shirer. Most importantly the authors have put Assam in the eyes of the mainstream. As an Assamese I am grateful to them for providing the perspective of the ‘outsider’. And as a research scholar I am a little envious of the amount of time and research they have invested into this book. I hope they do analyse the other NE states, and I also hope that other authors take note of this amazing book!
Now, coming to the book itself, it is needless to say that the authors intend to analyse the stunning success of the BJP in the 2016 Assembly elections. But to do so, one must go back in history, and take into account the monumental events that have shaped modern day Assam. The authors have weaved a seamless narrative, juxtaposing history and present day. The book begins with the famous battle of Saraighat in which the Ahom forces defeated the invading Mughal Army under the leadership of General Lachit Borphukan. It then jumps to the events leading to the Partition, and the efforts by the towering Gopinath Bordoloi to keep Assam in India. Then comes the Assam Movement – the event mostly remembered by the Assamese people for its impact on our society. The authors have succinctly analysed these monumental events and their relevance in present day politics. The events leading up to the elections itself occupies a large portion of the book (as expected). Having worked on the ground, the authors have been able to provide valuable insights into the election campaign. They haven’t gone soft on the BJP leadership. Criticism has been directed wherever they are deserved.
This book will hopefully serve as a template for analyzing the electoral politics of a state – any state. Rajat Sethi and Shubrastha have produced a phenomenal work. The narrative moves so smoothly that I was reminded of the time I read ‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich’ by William Shirer. Most importantly the authors have put Assam in the eyes of the mainstream. As an Assamese I am grateful to them for providing the perspective of the ‘outsider’. And as a research scholar I am a little envious of the amount of time and research they have invested into this book. I hope they do analyse the other NE states, and I also hope that other authors take note of this amazing book!
December 1, 2017
The Last Battle of Saraighat – An insightful, informative and a fascinating account of how the BJP started making inroads in North East states
A few months back, journalist cum author, Prashant Jha came up with his book “How the BJP Wins” where in the chapter “Beyond the heartland” in his book, Prashant highlighted how the BJP was able to move beyond its identity of “North Indian Party”, “Upper Caste Party”,etc. and was able to create inroads in areas beyond its core areas of strength. In the same chapter, Prashant also highlighted about the birth of new poll strategists for BJP who are now proving very invaluable for BJP – Rajat Sethi & Shubhrastha duo. “The Last Battle of Saraighat” is the debut book of Rajat Sethi - Shubhrastha duo who played a great role in crafting election strategies for BJP in the recent past. As the cover of the book indicates, the book is about The Rise of BJP to power in the North East states of India. Legendary Chinese war strategiest Sun Tzu famously said “If You know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of hundred battles” and “The General who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought” and the way the BJP led NDA rose to power in Assam elections 2016 and subsequently in many states in North East is an epitome of the same and The Last Battle of Saraighat is a detailed insider account of the same.
The book is divided into 7 Chapters (a fabulous Introduction by the authors duo and 6 insightful chapters to be precise). The authors begin the introduction in style by invoking the iconic 1671’s Battle of Saraighat where the Ahoms defeated the invading Mughals. As Rajat tweeted a few days back, this historical battle captures the essence of politics of Assam in an unique way which you can realise as you read through the pages of the book. In the 1st Chapter of the book, the authors takes you through the political history of Assam through the decades and the various issues that arose because of it. Assam has a history of various political blunders done by the ruling parties there in the past which had many repurcussions which were recounted during the campaign of 2016 Assembly polls in Assam.
In the 2nd Chapter of the book, the author duo takes you through the issue of illegal migrants which was one of the burning issues in Assam, the rise of Assam movement, the rise and fall of AGP party, the birth of the party ULFA and the Tarun Gogoi era of 15 years as Assam CM, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal and the AIUDF party, emergence of Sarbanand Sonowal (current Assam CM) as Jatiyo Nayak and a brief introduction about Himanta Biswa Sarma (cabinet minister in Assam Govt and current convenor of North East Democratic Alliance). A month back, Himanta Biswa Sarma took twitter to storm by this viral tweet in response of a tweet by Congress VP, Rahul Gandhi. You can read in detail about that incident in this chapter.
The 3rd Chapter of the book shows in detail on how the RSS has been creating inroads in Assam for nearly 5 decades and the results of the 2016 polls is a result of the long years of selfless hardwork and sacrifices by RSS karyakarthas which is now an inspiration to many RSS Karyakarthas especially in South India where the BJP is still trying to create a massive inroads. The authors began the chapter with an excellent quote from Bhagawath Gita which literally translates to “Lord Krishna asking Arjuna to surrender his work to the Lord and with his mind focussed on the Lord, fight the battle without any selfish desires”. I also came to know that the RSS conducted its first Shakha in Assam after reading this chapter.
The 4th Chapter covers in detail about the pre-poll strategy followed by the BJP in their campaign to the Assam Assembly polls 2016, how they understood and studied the complex demographic maze of the Assam populations, the errors committed by the then ruling Congress party and how the BJP capitulated on those opportunities, the coming of rainbow alliances, use of Social Media as a tool,etc. Interestingly, the Assam elections were the 1st type of elections where satires and caricatures were used to take digs at the opponents which was discussed in detail by the author duo here.
The 5th Chapter is about how the BJP fought during the different phases of the two phase bound Assam Assembly polls in 2016. You can find the relevance of the books’ title “The Last Battle of Saraighat” as you read through this chapter. Also you can read about Himanta Biswa Sarma’s meteoric rise in BJP in detail here. A twitter user from Assam, Mr. Raju Das tweeted in April 2016 about the goodwill enjoyed by Himanta Biswa Sarma in his home constituency Jalukbari in his brief tweet and I was able to read about the same in detail in this chapter.
The final chapter is titled “Elections and Indian Democracy” where the authors discuss in detail about the role of people in Indian democracy, the need to create connect with the local population by the political leaders, the road ahead for BJP w.r.t. North East states, increasing role of youth taking interests in politics and finally the role of many selfless volunteers and ground level workers which have a great impact in shaping the results of polls outcomes.
I wrote in my review for the book “ How the BJP Wins” that “Winning polls is very much as success in any endeavour where lots of hardwork, planning & careful execution of the same plays a good role”. It is relevant to this book “The Last Battle of Saraighat” too as reading this book makes you realise the above. The book is a reflection of the meticulous efforts and hardwork put in by the BJP workers and the authors who were the poll strategists for BJP in understanding the dynamics of the battle ground Assam and the way to conquer it and how they succeeded in it. Thanks Rajat – Shubhrastha for this insightful book and all the very best for your future endeavours too as poll strategists and as writers.
- Srivatsan V
A few months back, journalist cum author, Prashant Jha came up with his book “How the BJP Wins” where in the chapter “Beyond the heartland” in his book, Prashant highlighted how the BJP was able to move beyond its identity of “North Indian Party”, “Upper Caste Party”,etc. and was able to create inroads in areas beyond its core areas of strength. In the same chapter, Prashant also highlighted about the birth of new poll strategists for BJP who are now proving very invaluable for BJP – Rajat Sethi & Shubhrastha duo. “The Last Battle of Saraighat” is the debut book of Rajat Sethi - Shubhrastha duo who played a great role in crafting election strategies for BJP in the recent past. As the cover of the book indicates, the book is about The Rise of BJP to power in the North East states of India. Legendary Chinese war strategiest Sun Tzu famously said “If You know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of hundred battles” and “The General who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought” and the way the BJP led NDA rose to power in Assam elections 2016 and subsequently in many states in North East is an epitome of the same and The Last Battle of Saraighat is a detailed insider account of the same.
The book is divided into 7 Chapters (a fabulous Introduction by the authors duo and 6 insightful chapters to be precise). The authors begin the introduction in style by invoking the iconic 1671’s Battle of Saraighat where the Ahoms defeated the invading Mughals. As Rajat tweeted a few days back, this historical battle captures the essence of politics of Assam in an unique way which you can realise as you read through the pages of the book. In the 1st Chapter of the book, the authors takes you through the political history of Assam through the decades and the various issues that arose because of it. Assam has a history of various political blunders done by the ruling parties there in the past which had many repurcussions which were recounted during the campaign of 2016 Assembly polls in Assam.
In the 2nd Chapter of the book, the author duo takes you through the issue of illegal migrants which was one of the burning issues in Assam, the rise of Assam movement, the rise and fall of AGP party, the birth of the party ULFA and the Tarun Gogoi era of 15 years as Assam CM, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal and the AIUDF party, emergence of Sarbanand Sonowal (current Assam CM) as Jatiyo Nayak and a brief introduction about Himanta Biswa Sarma (cabinet minister in Assam Govt and current convenor of North East Democratic Alliance). A month back, Himanta Biswa Sarma took twitter to storm by this viral tweet in response of a tweet by Congress VP, Rahul Gandhi. You can read in detail about that incident in this chapter.
The 3rd Chapter of the book shows in detail on how the RSS has been creating inroads in Assam for nearly 5 decades and the results of the 2016 polls is a result of the long years of selfless hardwork and sacrifices by RSS karyakarthas which is now an inspiration to many RSS Karyakarthas especially in South India where the BJP is still trying to create a massive inroads. The authors began the chapter with an excellent quote from Bhagawath Gita which literally translates to “Lord Krishna asking Arjuna to surrender his work to the Lord and with his mind focussed on the Lord, fight the battle without any selfish desires”. I also came to know that the RSS conducted its first Shakha in Assam after reading this chapter.
The 4th Chapter covers in detail about the pre-poll strategy followed by the BJP in their campaign to the Assam Assembly polls 2016, how they understood and studied the complex demographic maze of the Assam populations, the errors committed by the then ruling Congress party and how the BJP capitulated on those opportunities, the coming of rainbow alliances, use of Social Media as a tool,etc. Interestingly, the Assam elections were the 1st type of elections where satires and caricatures were used to take digs at the opponents which was discussed in detail by the author duo here.
The 5th Chapter is about how the BJP fought during the different phases of the two phase bound Assam Assembly polls in 2016. You can find the relevance of the books’ title “The Last Battle of Saraighat” as you read through this chapter. Also you can read about Himanta Biswa Sarma’s meteoric rise in BJP in detail here. A twitter user from Assam, Mr. Raju Das tweeted in April 2016 about the goodwill enjoyed by Himanta Biswa Sarma in his home constituency Jalukbari in his brief tweet and I was able to read about the same in detail in this chapter.
The final chapter is titled “Elections and Indian Democracy” where the authors discuss in detail about the role of people in Indian democracy, the need to create connect with the local population by the political leaders, the road ahead for BJP w.r.t. North East states, increasing role of youth taking interests in politics and finally the role of many selfless volunteers and ground level workers which have a great impact in shaping the results of polls outcomes.
I wrote in my review for the book “ How the BJP Wins” that “Winning polls is very much as success in any endeavour where lots of hardwork, planning & careful execution of the same plays a good role”. It is relevant to this book “The Last Battle of Saraighat” too as reading this book makes you realise the above. The book is a reflection of the meticulous efforts and hardwork put in by the BJP workers and the authors who were the poll strategists for BJP in understanding the dynamics of the battle ground Assam and the way to conquer it and how they succeeded in it. Thanks Rajat – Shubhrastha for this insightful book and all the very best for your future endeavours too as poll strategists and as writers.
- Srivatsan V
January 19, 2019
Who must read this book? Every Indian!
It is a brief intro to the history and legends of Assam, about the role of Lachit Borphukan keeping the British out of Assam, and about Gopinath Bordoloi ensuring that Assam was never lost to East Pakistan.
It is a brief intro to the culture and demographics of Assam, and also about the way its demographics have been demolished and altered in irreversible sense by the unabated onslaught from illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
It is a brief account of how Congress leaderships over several decades kept bringing in more and more of Bangladeshi migrants just to change the voter dynamics of districts where Congress would have no or low chances of winning the elections.
It is a brief account of the largest and longest lasting but least heard student led movement in the history of Independent India, Assam Movement, which gave birth to not just the regional political heavy weight, AGP, but also to the terror outfit ULFA prior to which there was no terrorist faction of any kind in the Assamese lands.
And blending all of those aforementioned things and plenty more stuff, this book is an account of how BJP went from no footprints in North-east to registering an unseen and unheard-of victory in the state of Assam. This book is not just a brilliant account of what went behind the scenes in the entire electioneering, but also about what a tremendous lot goes into winning an election, and also into losing one.
I might like a politician and his party, or I might not. But, after reading this book I surely am in deep awe of the astounding deal of hard work, strategizing, planning and executing which one has to do to even fight an election anywhere in this uber complicated country. Winning an election is an altogether another level above that, no doubt. Thus, no matter how much I might any politician, I would always respect one for one's ambition to fight an election.
This book, it has taught me so much about the North-east India and especially Assam that I never knew. And, that's despite me considering myself to be a very aware individual when it comes to political and cultural history of almost all regions of India. Thus, this book has been a sheer eye-opener. Thus, I wholeheartedly request every Indian to read this book. If you are not into how elections are fought, and hos particularly BJP, Congress and AIUDF fought the 2016 State elections of Assam, don't read the book after the fourth chapter. But, do read it till that point at least. It's totally worth your money, time and energy, I can bet on that!
I take a lot of pride after having read this book. I personally believe that I know way more about Assam, its demographics, geographies and politics now than any average Indian by a long shot. However, more than that pride, what pains me is that until I read this book, I didn't know so much about a very significant part of my country in which I have been living for 24 years. That's despite having studied in best of schools wherever I stayed, and currently pursuing MBA final year in one of the best colleges in this country.
Thus, I won't mind saying that this book is equivalent to a textbook that every Indian should read until they amend and update our Nehruvian and Gandhian-only history books which have space for teaching students about the French revolution, but not the The Battle of Saraighat which still echoes pride and valour in almost every native Assam citizen even after centuries since.
Signing off,
Shilanjan
It is a brief intro to the history and legends of Assam, about the role of Lachit Borphukan keeping the British out of Assam, and about Gopinath Bordoloi ensuring that Assam was never lost to East Pakistan.
It is a brief intro to the culture and demographics of Assam, and also about the way its demographics have been demolished and altered in irreversible sense by the unabated onslaught from illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
It is a brief account of how Congress leaderships over several decades kept bringing in more and more of Bangladeshi migrants just to change the voter dynamics of districts where Congress would have no or low chances of winning the elections.
It is a brief account of the largest and longest lasting but least heard student led movement in the history of Independent India, Assam Movement, which gave birth to not just the regional political heavy weight, AGP, but also to the terror outfit ULFA prior to which there was no terrorist faction of any kind in the Assamese lands.
And blending all of those aforementioned things and plenty more stuff, this book is an account of how BJP went from no footprints in North-east to registering an unseen and unheard-of victory in the state of Assam. This book is not just a brilliant account of what went behind the scenes in the entire electioneering, but also about what a tremendous lot goes into winning an election, and also into losing one.
I might like a politician and his party, or I might not. But, after reading this book I surely am in deep awe of the astounding deal of hard work, strategizing, planning and executing which one has to do to even fight an election anywhere in this uber complicated country. Winning an election is an altogether another level above that, no doubt. Thus, no matter how much I might any politician, I would always respect one for one's ambition to fight an election.
This book, it has taught me so much about the North-east India and especially Assam that I never knew. And, that's despite me considering myself to be a very aware individual when it comes to political and cultural history of almost all regions of India. Thus, this book has been a sheer eye-opener. Thus, I wholeheartedly request every Indian to read this book. If you are not into how elections are fought, and hos particularly BJP, Congress and AIUDF fought the 2016 State elections of Assam, don't read the book after the fourth chapter. But, do read it till that point at least. It's totally worth your money, time and energy, I can bet on that!
I take a lot of pride after having read this book. I personally believe that I know way more about Assam, its demographics, geographies and politics now than any average Indian by a long shot. However, more than that pride, what pains me is that until I read this book, I didn't know so much about a very significant part of my country in which I have been living for 24 years. That's despite having studied in best of schools wherever I stayed, and currently pursuing MBA final year in one of the best colleges in this country.
Thus, I won't mind saying that this book is equivalent to a textbook that every Indian should read until they amend and update our Nehruvian and Gandhian-only history books which have space for teaching students about the French revolution, but not the The Battle of Saraighat which still echoes pride and valour in almost every native Assam citizen even after centuries since.
Signing off,
Shilanjan
May 25, 2018
From 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party or the BJP has been winning one election after another in India and has become a juggernaut of sorts as far as elections are concerned. But what has been the remarkable feature of this is its incredible rise in the North Eastern part of the country where it previously had no or negligible presence. This book covers the first out of the six North Eastern states where the BJP is currently a part of the government.
The history of Assam, its demographic patterns and how it has changed over these years. How the apathy of succesive central governments has affected the state so far has been covered by the authors Rajat Sethi and Shubhrastha in an excellent manner. Every aspect of the BJP that played its part in this incredible victory such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President of the party Amit Shah, the incumbent Chief Minister of Assam Sarbanda Sonowal, and most importantly the master strategist Himanta Biswa Sarma have been explained in a wonderful manner.
The significance of Saraighat, the site of an epic battle between the brave Ahoms led by Lachit Borphukan and the mighty Mughals in which the Ahoms won a decisive victory by employing a brilliant strategy which to this day is an important aspect of Assamese history has been explained very well and what the clarion call "The Last Battle of Saraighat" actually meant to the Assamese people has been brilliantly illustrated by the authors. This book is a must read for every political enthusiast in India, especially for those belong to the centre-right and the right end of the political spectrum or someone who supports or sympathizes with the BJP. There are very few books that discuss about the North Eastern part of India in a detailed, excellent manner such as this one does.
The history of Assam, its demographic patterns and how it has changed over these years. How the apathy of succesive central governments has affected the state so far has been covered by the authors Rajat Sethi and Shubhrastha in an excellent manner. Every aspect of the BJP that played its part in this incredible victory such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President of the party Amit Shah, the incumbent Chief Minister of Assam Sarbanda Sonowal, and most importantly the master strategist Himanta Biswa Sarma have been explained in a wonderful manner.
The significance of Saraighat, the site of an epic battle between the brave Ahoms led by Lachit Borphukan and the mighty Mughals in which the Ahoms won a decisive victory by employing a brilliant strategy which to this day is an important aspect of Assamese history has been explained very well and what the clarion call "The Last Battle of Saraighat" actually meant to the Assamese people has been brilliantly illustrated by the authors. This book is a must read for every political enthusiast in India, especially for those belong to the centre-right and the right end of the political spectrum or someone who supports or sympathizes with the BJP. There are very few books that discuss about the North Eastern part of India in a detailed, excellent manner such as this one does.
December 5, 2018
The battle which brought the poriborton (change) in Assam
--------------------------------------------------------------------
'There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know'.
- Harry S. Truman
The last battle of Saraighat, the story of the BJP's rise in the NorthEast, is an insider account that tells us that how the world's largest political party (BJP) captured the political power in the most diverse North-East state of India i.e. Assam.
If there is an "Award of Creativity" in The great Indian politics, then the BJP deserves this award for sure, because they knows that how to use, the ancient, the medieval, and the modern history of India during the election campaign, and they also presents their ideology and vision amongst the voters of hindustan by using this technique in a very smart way.
Infact the only difference between the Indian National Congress (INC) and the BJP, is that both these political entities performs pornographic ( or polarization) acts on a regular basis, but the INC is always in a denial mode by giving the only excuse they have, that we are a sickular (secular) political organization and we do not indulge in such type of acts, but on the other hand BJP bluntly accepts their love for the pornography.
During the 2016 Assam assembly elections, the BJP and its strategist invoked the historic 'Battle of Saraighat' for its election campaign, and this was one of the most important battle in the Assamese history, because in this battle the great Ahom general, Lachit borphuka , defeated the mighty Mughal army in the iconic war of 1671, famously known as the "Battle of Saraighat".
By using this historic Battle, the BJP portrayed the then government of Assam led by the former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, and also the founder of AIUDF, maulana Badruddin Ajmal, as those people who supports the illegal bangladeshi migrants. And because of this continuous unchecked migration of illegal migrants in assam for several decades, the demography of the state has changed dramatically, and the indigenous people of assam realized that they will become minority in their own homeland because of the negligence of the successive state governments.
That's why they decided to support the "Rainbow Alliance" of BJP-AGP-BPF in the 2016 assembly elections, and they routed the incompetent, corrupt and nepotistic government of tarun gogoi, and they brought the poriborton (change) by electing Sarbanand Sonowal as the Chief minister of Assam.
The authors also mentioned that it is because of the hard work and dedication of the RSS in assam for decades, which helped the BJP in winning the 2016 assembly elections.
If you love reading about the "Great Indian Politics", then read this book for sure, because it is written in a very simple and lucid way by both the authors.
My Ratings : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
I hope you like the Review, thanks for reading, Jai Hind.
Table of contents :-
--------------------------
* A history of political blunders
* The Run-up to the 2016 elections
* Five decades of the Sangh
* Getting Battle-ready
* Battling the war
* Elections and Indian democracy
--------------------------------------------------------------------
'There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know'.
- Harry S. Truman
The last battle of Saraighat, the story of the BJP's rise in the NorthEast, is an insider account that tells us that how the world's largest political party (BJP) captured the political power in the most diverse North-East state of India i.e. Assam.
If there is an "Award of Creativity" in The great Indian politics, then the BJP deserves this award for sure, because they knows that how to use, the ancient, the medieval, and the modern history of India during the election campaign, and they also presents their ideology and vision amongst the voters of hindustan by using this technique in a very smart way.
Infact the only difference between the Indian National Congress (INC) and the BJP, is that both these political entities performs pornographic ( or polarization) acts on a regular basis, but the INC is always in a denial mode by giving the only excuse they have, that we are a sickular (secular) political organization and we do not indulge in such type of acts, but on the other hand BJP bluntly accepts their love for the pornography.
During the 2016 Assam assembly elections, the BJP and its strategist invoked the historic 'Battle of Saraighat' for its election campaign, and this was one of the most important battle in the Assamese history, because in this battle the great Ahom general, Lachit borphuka , defeated the mighty Mughal army in the iconic war of 1671, famously known as the "Battle of Saraighat".
By using this historic Battle, the BJP portrayed the then government of Assam led by the former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, and also the founder of AIUDF, maulana Badruddin Ajmal, as those people who supports the illegal bangladeshi migrants. And because of this continuous unchecked migration of illegal migrants in assam for several decades, the demography of the state has changed dramatically, and the indigenous people of assam realized that they will become minority in their own homeland because of the negligence of the successive state governments.
That's why they decided to support the "Rainbow Alliance" of BJP-AGP-BPF in the 2016 assembly elections, and they routed the incompetent, corrupt and nepotistic government of tarun gogoi, and they brought the poriborton (change) by electing Sarbanand Sonowal as the Chief minister of Assam.
The authors also mentioned that it is because of the hard work and dedication of the RSS in assam for decades, which helped the BJP in winning the 2016 assembly elections.
If you love reading about the "Great Indian Politics", then read this book for sure, because it is written in a very simple and lucid way by both the authors.
My Ratings : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
I hope you like the Review, thanks for reading, Jai Hind.
Table of contents :-
--------------------------
* A history of political blunders
* The Run-up to the 2016 elections
* Five decades of the Sangh
* Getting Battle-ready
* Battling the war
* Elections and Indian democracy
March 13, 2018
History is written by the victors
History is written by the victors. And this book is no exception to that age old adage. The book heavily leans towards the right of the political spectrum, and that is no surprise. It does, however manage to provide some insight into the reasons for the Congress's loosening grip on northeast India, and the sudden influx of right-wing, nationalist ideology popular in the valley now.
While BJP's rise wasn't a surprise for those of us who followed local and national politics, it was surprising to see the rapid and sudden downfall of the grand old party of India.
Dynastic leadership of congress has always been its weakest link. What happened in the Indian general elections was replication to almost perfection in the microcosm of Assamese political arena. Assam elections was a balanced mix of anti-incumbency factor, dynastic ambitions, battle of personalities and the lack of the oppositions strategic depth and finesse, which often degraded to using rhetoric and acrid banality of mudslinging.
Congress lost Hemanta Biswa Sharma to BJP months before the elections. He is one of the few mainstream politicians that enjoys cult status among the youth of Assam and a good segment of the older generation, even more than the current CM, Sarbananda Sonowal. His reputation as a shoot first, ask questions later politician is well known. The PM's magnanimous presence was just the cherry on top for BJP's campaign.
It was a fine piece of battle in Assam indeed.
For finer details and anecdotes, please go through the book. It's must read for anyone with some interest in national and regional politics. The last chapter attempts to align Assam's political problems to the world and large, and it's interesting to see the parallels.
The book was never a dull read at any point. If you enjoy political treatises, you'll definitely enjoy this book and learn some of the intricacies of myriad of political and social challenges in Assam, including but not limited to migration, terrorism, corruption, tribes, land, identity, pride and traditions.
History is written by the victors. And this book is no exception to that age old adage. The book heavily leans towards the right of the political spectrum, and that is no surprise. It does, however manage to provide some insight into the reasons for the Congress's loosening grip on northeast India, and the sudden influx of right-wing, nationalist ideology popular in the valley now.
While BJP's rise wasn't a surprise for those of us who followed local and national politics, it was surprising to see the rapid and sudden downfall of the grand old party of India.
Dynastic leadership of congress has always been its weakest link. What happened in the Indian general elections was replication to almost perfection in the microcosm of Assamese political arena. Assam elections was a balanced mix of anti-incumbency factor, dynastic ambitions, battle of personalities and the lack of the oppositions strategic depth and finesse, which often degraded to using rhetoric and acrid banality of mudslinging.
Congress lost Hemanta Biswa Sharma to BJP months before the elections. He is one of the few mainstream politicians that enjoys cult status among the youth of Assam and a good segment of the older generation, even more than the current CM, Sarbananda Sonowal. His reputation as a shoot first, ask questions later politician is well known. The PM's magnanimous presence was just the cherry on top for BJP's campaign.
It was a fine piece of battle in Assam indeed.
For finer details and anecdotes, please go through the book. It's must read for anyone with some interest in national and regional politics. The last chapter attempts to align Assam's political problems to the world and large, and it's interesting to see the parallels.
The book was never a dull read at any point. If you enjoy political treatises, you'll definitely enjoy this book and learn some of the intricacies of myriad of political and social challenges in Assam, including but not limited to migration, terrorism, corruption, tribes, land, identity, pride and traditions.
May 28, 2019
The Last Battle of Saraighat has been on my to-read list ever since I saw the book in a bookstore quite a while back. I saw it and deftly forgot about it , until 3rd March 3, 2018 when like most BJP sympathizers I was rejoicing in the fact that finally the myth has been broken, and the truth is that a Bengali speaking state Tripura has elected the saffron brigade. While browsing through endless news channels that evening I stumbled upon a debate where one of the panelists was passionately defending the BJP’s POV. He was young, he was aggressive and he took the “liberal-secular” bull by the horns. His name was Rajat Sethi. I searched the internet about him and bingo The Last Battle of Saraighat was back in my list.
Firstly, this book comes out as a scholarly piece of work. This is not a romanticized version of how the Saffron party managed to get its foothold in the North east, rather in a detailed manner the husband wife duo of Shubhrastha and Rajat Sethi, weaves the narrative of Assam right from the pre-independence period. The authors don’t shy away from breaking the halo of our first prime minister by pointing out the blunders he committed, neither do they keep hidden the fact that Gopinath Bordoloi’s plight as a Congressman trying to save his state. The chapter on the functioning of the RSS was inspiring to say the least. The endeavor taken up by a few people who weren’t Asomiya, to build up the organization brick by brick with no practical political result in sight was a treat to read.
Lastly, the book was a bit slow in pace. The reason behind this being the fact that it not only did have facts, which are easy to read and absorb, but also analysis of those events and incidents, which need careful reading to settle in. All in all a very satisfying read and I would recommend this book to any and every reader who loves to read about politics, history and about a state which a few years back had become a “tyranny of distance” to the fraudulent media cabal of our country.
Firstly, this book comes out as a scholarly piece of work. This is not a romanticized version of how the Saffron party managed to get its foothold in the North east, rather in a detailed manner the husband wife duo of Shubhrastha and Rajat Sethi, weaves the narrative of Assam right from the pre-independence period. The authors don’t shy away from breaking the halo of our first prime minister by pointing out the blunders he committed, neither do they keep hidden the fact that Gopinath Bordoloi’s plight as a Congressman trying to save his state. The chapter on the functioning of the RSS was inspiring to say the least. The endeavor taken up by a few people who weren’t Asomiya, to build up the organization brick by brick with no practical political result in sight was a treat to read.
Lastly, the book was a bit slow in pace. The reason behind this being the fact that it not only did have facts, which are easy to read and absorb, but also analysis of those events and incidents, which need careful reading to settle in. All in all a very satisfying read and I would recommend this book to any and every reader who loves to read about politics, history and about a state which a few years back had become a “tyranny of distance” to the fraudulent media cabal of our country.
December 31, 2017
while this books gives you an introduction into the culture, dynamics and the political landscape of Assam, it takes your through a political, geographic and historic narrative of Assam and how the politics have been shaped in this region of our country.
This also highlights the ineffectiveness of our national governments and the ignorance they have bestowed to our north eastern states. It emphasizes and briefs you on how effectively BJP built itself on the foundation work of RSS cadre, how they effectively used the social media and few instances of how they kept the anti-incumbency wave alive and while incepting the idea of change into the minds of people of Assam to win the 2016 elections.
A must read if you are a newbie like me into politics and also to get to know few things about Assam.
This also highlights the ineffectiveness of our national governments and the ignorance they have bestowed to our north eastern states. It emphasizes and briefs you on how effectively BJP built itself on the foundation work of RSS cadre, how they effectively used the social media and few instances of how they kept the anti-incumbency wave alive and while incepting the idea of change into the minds of people of Assam to win the 2016 elections.
A must read if you are a newbie like me into politics and also to get to know few things about Assam.
June 18, 2019
apt with its title.content is clear.
sequentially written and very clearly understandable for a beginner.very open about his journey.good reading for political enthusiast.great story telling.
fun reading.
sequentially written and very clearly understandable for a beginner.very open about his journey.good reading for political enthusiast.great story telling.
fun reading.
January 30, 2020
A book about the strategy behind scenes about forming first BJP government in Assam.
November 15, 2020
The Battle of Transformation!
Spellbounded by this book. My gratitude to Mr. Sanjay Jalan for recommending this book.
The authors have nailed their points to perfection. Starting from the significance of the epic battle between Ahoms (led by their Commander Lachit)and Mughals in the year 1671, popularly known as 'The Battle of Saraighat ', the authors connect it to the election battle of 2016. Congress, which enjoyed the power-seat for 15 years, gained the upper hand in 2016 too. BJP (Assam wing), at that point of time was struggling to set their own house in order. Many political pundits wrote off BJP citing that Assam was a totally different battle ground which BJP can never conquer.
It was extremely difficult, seldom impossible for BJP. The strategies that were drawn out to make the impossible possible must be read for sure.
‘Jai Aai Axom’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’.
Spellbounded by this book. My gratitude to Mr. Sanjay Jalan for recommending this book.
The authors have nailed their points to perfection. Starting from the significance of the epic battle between Ahoms (led by their Commander Lachit)and Mughals in the year 1671, popularly known as 'The Battle of Saraighat ', the authors connect it to the election battle of 2016. Congress, which enjoyed the power-seat for 15 years, gained the upper hand in 2016 too. BJP (Assam wing), at that point of time was struggling to set their own house in order. Many political pundits wrote off BJP citing that Assam was a totally different battle ground which BJP can never conquer.
It was extremely difficult, seldom impossible for BJP. The strategies that were drawn out to make the impossible possible must be read for sure.
‘Jai Aai Axom’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’.
April 19, 2024
Superb book if you would like to get introduced to Assam politics.
August 15, 2021
True to the authors words - there aren't a lot of books by outsiders on the history of Assam and this is a pretty good compilation on all the stuff congress messed up which bjp took advantage of .
Read
January 14, 2019“In the dance of democracy, people have been and will always be kingmakers” - The Last Battle of Saraighat by Shubhrastha andRajat Sethi.
I was eyeing this book ever since it came out and I do regret not having read it earlier as it took me on a journey through the most neglected and politically complex regions of my country, the North East. Starting from a fine historical perspective of the area to slowly introducing the current considerations of the electors, the book succinctly but effectively touches upon all important aspects of electioneering techniques employed by parties today, concerns of voters, their aspirations, behind the scene hard work of the "karyakartas" and even sensitive issues like rise of insurgency have been very delicately handled with considerable maturity. Their love for the region is apparent so is their passion for their work. A great read as we get into another all consuming #2019GeneralElections cycle.
I was eyeing this book ever since it came out and I do regret not having read it earlier as it took me on a journey through the most neglected and politically complex regions of my country, the North East. Starting from a fine historical perspective of the area to slowly introducing the current considerations of the electors, the book succinctly but effectively touches upon all important aspects of electioneering techniques employed by parties today, concerns of voters, their aspirations, behind the scene hard work of the "karyakartas" and even sensitive issues like rise of insurgency have been very delicately handled with considerable maturity. Their love for the region is apparent so is their passion for their work. A great read as we get into another all consuming #2019GeneralElections cycle.
March 6, 2018
A very interesting insight into the politics of the North East (India)!
March 4, 2020
A good book written by two strategist of BJP who worked in the success of BJP in Assam and implemented its NE plan. Book also touches upon a lot of aspect of untold history of Assam.
May 21, 2022
How BJP suddenly become zero to hero in North east was a matter of curiosity for everyone.
This book will definitely help you to calm your curiosity for that.
Recommended for Politicians in India.
This book will definitely help you to calm your curiosity for that.
Recommended for Politicians in India.
October 12, 2022
It's about rise of BJP in Assam. The realpolitik. The hard work of RSS.
March 28, 2025
Nice and informational
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