The AGP was a member of the National Democratic Alliance that won the 2016 and 2021 Assam legislative assembly elections. At the federal level, the AGP was a member of the National Front from 1989 to 1990 and the United Front from 1996 to 1998. Since 1998, the AGP has often joined and supported the National Democratic Alliance.
History
The Assam Movement, also known as the Anti-Foreigners Agitation, was a movement, from 1979 to 1985, that demanded the Government of India detect, disenfranchise and deport foreign-born inhabitants without citizenship. Led by the All Assam Students Union (AASU), the movement defined a six-year period of sustained civil disobedience campaigns, political instability and ethnic violence. The movement ended in 1985 with the Assam Accord.[5]
In 1985, the Assam Legislative Assembly was dissolved and the Congress government headed by Hiteswar Saikia, which came to power in 1983, was dismissed by the Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. The Golaghat National Convention of Assam Movement activists, held in Golaghat on 13–14 October 1985, formally established the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) to contest the 1985 elections.[6]Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, the President of the AASU, was elected the President of the presidium of the AGP.
After the 1985 elections, the AGP formed a government with the support of the successful independent candidates affiliated with the Assam Movement. The AGP thereafter held 92 seats in the 126-member Assam legislative assembly. AGP affiliated independents won seven of the 14 Lok Sabha (Parliament) seats in the delayed 1984-85 general election in Assam. The AGP formed the government again after the 1996 elections.
The Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu, with a delegation of Ministers and MLAs of the Asom Gana Parishad.
Since the late 1990s, the AGP has often joined and supported the National Democratic Alliance.[7][8] There have been tactical alliances and seat-sharing arrangements in assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party was the junior coalition member in the 2001 assembly elections, but the AGP accepted the role of junior coalition member in the 2016 and 2021 assembly elections.[9] As a member of the National Democratic Alliance, the AGP is a constituent also of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).[10]
In 2019, the AGP briefly withdrew from the National Democratic Alliance due to the unpopularity of the Citizenship Amendment Act with its voter base.[11] AGP ministers resigned from the state government, including Atul Bora, Keshab Mahanta and Phani Bhusan Choudhury.[12] Senior AGP leaders officially oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act and support the implementation of the Assam Accord, as of 2024.[13] However, the AGP renewed its membership in the National Democratic Alliance before the 2019 Indian general election.[14][15] The AGP faces factionalism over the Citizenship Amendment Act, with supporters and detractors amongst the party's legislators and voter base.[16]
After the second AGP Government's reign under Prafulla Kumar Mahanta came to an end and Congress regained power, numerous allegations were raised against him related to the corruption during his tenure, government's involvement in secret killings, and Mahanta's overall inactive leadership. These led to his demotion from being President of the party and later he was expelled from the party on 3 July 2005 after being accused of anti-party activities. Mahanta then formed his own party, Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive).
In 2008, a process started to reconcile the differences among all the breakaway fractions and to bring back everybody under the mother party umbrella to strengthen the regional party movement in Assam. Finally, on 14 October 2008, all breakaway groups reconciled in one umbrella at the historic town Golaghat. Prafulla Mahanta merged his AGP(P) with it. Atul Bora and Pulakesh Barua merged their TGP with the AGP and farmer leader and former legislator of Patacharkuchi, Pabindra Deka too merged the Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad (PLP) with it.
In 2011, Sarbananda Sonowal resigned from all executive posts within AGP and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, due to dissatisfaction with and amongst the senior leadership of the party who were trying to forge an alliance with a party that was against the scrapping of the controversial IMDT Act. "The AGP was born out of the illegal foreigners' issue after the six-year-long Assam agitation; 855 people laid down their lives in the agitation. However, the party has failed to honor the sacrifice of the martyrs by deviating from its principles. But I have no grievances against the dedicated grassroots-level workers. Since the AGP has failed to tackle the illegal migrants' problem, I've joined the BJP keeping in mind the interest of the people of Assam and the fact that I'll be able to highlight the problems and issues of the state at the national level," Sonowal, the former AGP general secretary, said.
On 8 February 2011, Sonowal joined Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of the then BJP National President Nitin Gadkari and senior leaders like Varun Gandhi, Vijay Goel, Bijoya Chakravarty and state BJP president Ranjit Dutta. He was immediately appointed a member of the BJP National Executive and then later on State Spokesperson of the state BJP unit, prior to his current assignment to head the state as the new president.
Again on 3 July 2013, senior party leader Atul Bora once again left the party and joined BJP.
↑Hazarika, Niru. “ASOM GANA PARISHAD.” The Indian Journal of Political Science, vol. 49, no. 1, 1988. pp. 95–104. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41855355. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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