THE RISE OF A NEW OPPOSITION
Between 1979 and 1985, Assam witnessed mass agitations demanding the detection and deportation of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The six-year-long agitation ended with the signing of the Assam Accord between the Union government and student groups that had led the movement. In the subsequent election, held in 1985, a new political party—the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)—came to power, with a massive mandate. The AGP was a union of the two most influential student groups in Assam—the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP). Thirty-three-year-old student leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was elected chief minister.
More than three decades later, the AASU and
