Congress finds itself tied down in Assam’s tea belt

Paban Singh Ghatowar, five times the Lok Sabha member from Dibrugarh, finds himself in a role he would not have considered ideal for him. Also a former Pradesh Congress president and four times a Union minister, he should ideally have been campaigning for all 30 assembly seats in Assam tea belt, spread over seven districts, to ensure that votes of the plantation labour force did not go to the BJP.

Instead, Ghatowar is stuck in Moran, where the party has nominated him in place of sitting MLA and his wife Jibon Tara Ghatowar. As such, the Congress has no prominent campaigners from the tea community. In comparison, the BJP has two MPs from the community.

Two senior Congress leaders from the tea community, Prithibi Majhi and Etowa Munda, too are stuck in their respective constituencies, Lahoal and Tingkhong. Eight-time MLA Rameswar Dhanowar is campaigning only for his son, Gautam, who got the Digboi ticket instead of him.

The Congress holds 24 of the 30 assembly seats, while the BJP and the AGP have two each, won before they became partners. In the Lok Sabha polls, Congress CM Tarun Gogoi’s son Gaurav won Koliabor in this belt while the BJP took Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Tezpur and Lakhimpur, the last one won by current CM candidate Sarbananda Sonowal.

“Tea labourers, who have been cheated for decades by the Congress, had already deserted the party in 2014 when they overwhelmingly voted for the BJP and ousted the Congress from all the tea-growing districts, This time they are going to oust the Congress from all 30 assembly constituencies in the tea districts,” said Kamakhya Prasad Tasha, BJP MP from Jorhat, and now the candidate against CM Gogoi in Titabor.

The Congress says Tasha will be proved wrong. “The Lok Sabha election was different. In assembly elections the voters know the candidates. And as far as the tea community is concerned, they know only one party for electing MLAs, and it is the Congress,” said PCC chief Anjan Dutta. “That the Congress is more concerned about tea tribes is evident from the fact that we have nominated 14 from them, while the BJP and AGP have only eight candidates.”

On the ground, however, things may not be what they seem to either Tasha of the BJP or Dutta of the Congress. “No party should take our community for granted. With literacy and awareness rising, our people, more particularly the youth, will think twice before voting,” said Paban Bedia, general secretary of the All Assam Tea Tribes’ Students’ Association.

“Moreover,” Bedia added, “as a student body, we have asked our people to elect persons who are capable and efficient, irrespective of whether they come from our community or not. The reason is, though many from our community were MLAs for several terms and also become important ministers, the condition of our people has stayed the same.”

Tea tribes, who trace their roots to the Chotanagpur plateau from where the British had brought them to work on plantations in the 19th and early 20th centuries, remain one of the most backward communities of the state. “Most of our people don’t have land, they live in shabby tea estate quarters. Their living standards are low, and so are their literacy levels,” said Mintu Hembrom, an upcoming leader of the community who also works as a part-time journalist in Tezpur.

“Leaders and party workers are visiting us from door to door. Both parties want every vote from our community,” said Sanjit Karmakar, a tea plantation labourer who is a voter in Moran where Ghatowar is contesting. “Ghatowar’s wife was an MLA for two terms, but has anything good happened to us?” said his friend Pradip Goala.

In Bokakhat near Kaziranga, Phulmai Ganju, 60, has a question. “Last time, I pressed the lotus button for change. This time they have asked us to press the elephant button. I am confused,” she said. The BJP has given the Bokakhat seat to the AGP, whose symbol is the elephant.