In Assam, poll campaign for 2nd phase ends; rain plays spoilsport on last day
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who was scheduled to address three rallies at Silchar, Halflong and Bokajan couldn’t attend any of them due to rain and bad weather. A scheduled meeting with journalists at Silchar also got cancelled.
Campaigning for the second phase of assembly elections in Assam ended on Tuesday with rain and bad weather playing spoilsport.
Over 7.3 million voters will decide the fates of 345 candidates in 39 seats in 13 districts (of the total 126), which will go to polls on April 1. In the first phase, polling had taken place in 47 seats in 12 districts on March 27. In the third and final phase 40 seats would go to polls.
Prominent candidates in the second phase include Parimal Suklabaidya (Dholai), Pijush Hazarika (Jagiroad), Bhabesh Kalita (Rangia), all ministers in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, and the assembly deputy speaker Aminul Haque Laskar (Sonai).
The high voltage campaign that saw bigwigs from BJP and Congress touring the state several times in the past week ended on a damp note on Tuesday due to inclement weather.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who was scheduled to address three rallies at Silchar, Halflong and Bokajan couldn’t attend any of them due to rain and bad weather. A scheduled meeting with journalists at Silchar also got cancelled.
“We won’t allow Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to be implemented in Assam. It is the first of our five guarantees for people of Assam. The legislation is an attack on Assam’s language, history and culture,” Gandhi said in a video message to Assam’s voters on Tuesday.
He also listed the other four guarantees-government jobs to 500,000 people, increase in daily wage of tea garden workers to ₹365, 200 units free electricity to all households and ₹2000 per month to housewives-and promised to implement them within hours of forming government in the state.
Gandhi accused the BJP of targeting hill tribes in Assam by trying to scrap Article 244A of the constitution, which allows formation of an autonomous state comprising certain tribal areas in the state and creation of a legislature or council of ministers or both.
“While the BJP is trying to attack the culture and traditions of hill tribes by scrapping Article 244A, we will implement it,” Gandhi said while appealing voters to bring the Congress-led alliance to power.
Assam has three hill districts, Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, which have five assembly seats, and will go to polls in the second phase.
On Tuesday, BJP national president JP Nadda addressed two rallies at Dharmapur and Bilasipara. He couldn’t attend the third rally at Rani due to rain and bad weather.
“Rahul Gandhi tweets that there is a difference between ‘jumla’ (false promise) and progress. That’s our question too. His (Gandhi’s) grandmother, father and mother made false promises. Who had coined the term ‘garibi hatao’ (remove poverty)? Did they remove poverty? Unlike them, BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi ushered development in Assam,” Nadda said at Dharmapur while targeting the Congress.
Focus on Barak Valley
Most of the focus of the campaign in the second phase was in the three Bengali-majority districts of Barak Valley-Karimganj, Cachar and Hailakandi, which have 15 seats in total.
Post NRC, there has been a fear among the common voters in Barak Valley regarding citizenship, especially in rural areas. But political parties have emphasised more on linguistic sentiments and blame games based on religion in their campaigns. Some of the independent candidates like BJP’s rebel Dilip Kumar Paul and others managed to create a buzz. But the final day of campaign was hampered by sudden rainfall.
The BJP has had a strong presence in the region since the past three decades, mainly among Bengali Hindus. On the other hand, Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) also have influence in several pockets, the latter among Bengali Muslims. In 2016, BJP won 8 of the 15 seats while Congress won 3 and AIUDF bagged 4.
In order to influence voters, most BJP star campaigners including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and senior minister Himanta Biswa Sharma spattered their speeches with Bengali sentences in their rallies. Terming Congress alliance with AIUDF as communal, the saffron party kept attacking both in their election rallies.
Similarly, Congress star campaigners including state in-charge Jitendra Singh, senior leader Sachin Pilot also tried to speak the local language and informed voters about the party’s five guarantees for voters.
BJP is facing a prominent rebel candidate, sitting MLA Dilip Kumar Paul, in Silchar who resigned from the party after being denied a ticket and is contesting as an Independent.
The final day of campaign was supposed to be a star-studded day with Rahul Gandhi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Sarbananda Sonowal and many campaigners scheduled to visit. But sudden rainfall hampered the campaigns. Rahul Gandhi cancelled his tour, Sonowal came but it was a low key affair.
In the final hour of the campaign, local artists and singers along with the candidates were seen roaming around in various parts of their constituencies and asking for votes.