AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal has urged opposition parties to strengthen coordination under the INDIA bloc, saying the BJP should not be allowed to intimidate its rivals and that political resistance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi would gather force if parties stayed united.
Ajmal made the remarks while speaking to reporters in Guwahati on July 6, placing his party’s position within the wider national opposition framework after a bruising electoral season in Assam. “Eventually, it will be PM Modi’s turn. People will break him too. We should not be afraid,” he said, using combative language to argue that opposition parties should not retreat in the face of the BJP’s organisational strength.
The statement comes at a difficult moment for the All India United Democratic Front, which has seen its influence in Assam shrink sharply. The party, once a decisive player in several minority-dominated constituencies, was reduced to two seats in the 126-member Assembly election held earlier this year. The BJP won 82 seats on its own, while its allies also performed strongly, giving the ruling formation a commanding majority. The Congress secured 19 seats, emerging as the principal opposition party in the state.
Ajmal’s call for unity reflects a broader pressure on smaller parties to reassess their role in anti-BJP politics. The INDIA bloc was formed to bring together opposition parties at the national level, but its state-level arrangements have often been uneven. Assam has been one of the more complicated cases because of rivalry between the Congress and the AIUDF, with both parties competing for overlapping sections of the electorate.
The AIUDF chief’s message was aimed partly at countering the perception that the BJP’s electoral machinery has left opposition parties demoralised. His remarks suggested that the opposition should treat setbacks as temporary rather than structural. Ajmal argued that political conditions could shift if parties resisted fragmentation and avoided fear-driven campaigning.
Assam’s latest Assembly result has intensified debate within the opposition over whether religious and regional voting patterns are being consolidated in ways that favour the BJP. The ruling party expanded its seat tally from its previous performance, while the Congress managed to retain a significant share of opposition space. The AIUDF’s fall from 16 seats in 2021 to two has raised questions about whether its core support has moved towards the Congress or splintered under pressure from polarised contests.
The Congress had earlier distanced itself from the AIUDF after their alliance in the 2021 Assembly election failed to prevent the BJP-led government from returning to power. Since then, Congress leaders in Assam have often argued that any association with Ajmal’s party helps the BJP frame elections around identity politics. The AIUDF, for its part, has accused the Congress of weakening opposition unity by refusing to accommodate smaller regional players.
Ajmal’s intervention therefore carries both national and state-level significance. At the national level, it seeks to reinforce the idea that the INDIA bloc remains the main platform for parties opposed to the BJP. At the state level, it revives the unresolved question of whether the Congress and the AIUDF can cooperate without hurting each other electorally.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the BJP have repeatedly attacked the opposition as divided and lacking a coherent programme. The ruling party has also positioned itself as the dominant force in Assam by combining welfare schemes, infrastructure promises, identity politics and a disciplined booth-level organisation. Opposition parties have struggled to match that coordination across districts.
Ajmal’s latest remarks also come as the Assam Assembly moves into a new phase after the election. The government has tabled legislation to protect certain political aides to the chief minister from disqualification under office-of-profit rules, a move that has added to opposition criticism of the ruling party’s style of governance. The AIUDF is likely to use such issues to rebuild its relevance, though its reduced legislative strength limits its ability to shape proceedings directly.
The challenge for Ajmal is that rhetoric alone may not restore the AIUDF’s lost ground. The party faces competition from the Congress in minority-heavy areas and from regional formations in parts of western and southern Assam. Its future role in the opposition camp may depend on whether it can present itself as more than a community-based party and whether larger opposition groups see electoral value in working with it.
