Assam’s political stage has found a new script: the state’s biggest tragedy of this century. The death of Zubeen Garg, the state’s most adored cultural icon, has morphed into a political spectacle, unfolding six months before the assembly elections. When the 52-year-old legend drowned off a yacht in Singapore waters on September 19, few could have predicted that the mourning for a musician would evolve into a contest over memory and manipulation.

Yet as Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi arrives today in Guwahati, nearly a month after the tragedy, to pay his respects, it becomes clear that Zubeen’s legacy has been conscripted into service for the upcoming assembly elections. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has mocked Rahul’s visit, pointing out that the Congress leade

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