BJP veteran and four-time Member of Parliament and former Union Minister Rajen Gohain has resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ending his 34-year association with the saffron party.
The 74-year-old veteran, a prominent face of the BJP in Assam and a long-time associate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), submitted his resignation on Thursday along with 18 others. Gohain, who represented the Nowgong Lok Sabha constituency from 1999 to 2019 and served as Minister of State for Railways in 2016, accused the party of betraying its core ideological and regional commitments. Gohain, who represented the Nowgong Lok Sabha constituency from 1999 to 2019 and served as Minister of State for Railways in 2016, accused the party of betraying its core ideological and regional commitments.
In a strongly worded statement following his resignation, Gohain said he felt “deeply disillusioned” with the direction the party had taken.“While talking about ethnicity and homeland, the BJP allowed outsiders to settle at the expense of the indigenous Assamese people’s land and resources,” he told reporters. Gohain lashed out at the government over its handling of illegal immigration—once a cornerstone of the BJP’s political campaign in Assam.“The government that promised that after May 16, 2014, there would not be a single Bangladeshi in Assam is now bringing them in through new tactics,” he alleged.
He also criticised the prolonged delay in granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to six indigenous communities, calling it another unfulfilled promise. Beyond policy failures, Gohain accused the BJP of neglecting its loyal grassroots workers. “The party has failed to give due respect to lifelong dedicated workers who sacrificed their youth for its growth,” he said.The veteran leader further slammed the state government for what he described as “rampant nepotism” and anti-local economic policies.