Warhorse CM Tarun Gogoi unsaddled, but not down

When Tarun Gogoi called Narendra Modi "a Mughal trying to invade Assam" at the height of the campaign, little did he realise that he could not fight like his hero Lachit Borphukan, the great 17th-century Ahom general. Lachit had vanquished the Mughals in the 1671 Battle of Saraighat. On Thursday, Gogoi, Assam's longest-serving CM, suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Modi's BJP. Ironically, the man who helped Modi trip him was his former protege Himanta Biswa Sarma. But the octogenarian was graceful in defeat. "I have seen several ups and downs in my career. I am sad but not disheartened," Gogoi said on Thursday. Gogoi's entry into Dispur, Assam's seat of power, in 2001, was as dramatic as the way he went out of it. He had then demolished AGP in similar fashion. At that time, BJP was AGP's junior partner. With the help of the Congress first family, he survived a massive rebellion in 2014 that saw rivals blame him for the party's near rout in the LS polls in Assam. It is also a measure of his success as a politician that BJP had to depute Modi to challenge him in a state election. Despite the results, this plucky fighter remains resolute. "Come what may, I will never join hands with a communal party like AIUDF," he said.