Assam assembly election 2016: In ‘migrant’ settlement, politics changes, life remains the same

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Many locals believe Saharia can not only queer the pitch for both national parties but could also emerge the dark horse should he swing enough of the 58,000-odd Muslim votes in a constituency of around one lakh.

Sipajhar presents a new element in the already complex firmament of Assam politics, where the original winning recipe of “Ali-Coolie-Bangali” of Dev Kanta Barooah has gathered new layers and sublayers.

What has not changed, though, is the living conditions of the residents, a large number are believed to have their roots in Bangladesh. This was where the AASU movement of 1979-85 against Bangladeshi influx had taken off; a revision of rolls for a bypoll to Mangaldoi Lok Sabha seat in 1978 had detected found a sudden increase of several thousand people in Sipajhar and Mangaldoi segments. Illegal immigration was dealt with in the report of the Upamanyu Hazarika committee appointed by the Supreme Court, which pointed out laxity of border forces and stressed the need for sterile zones. A number of government documents, probe reports and RTI responses have indicated these people are indeed Bangladeshi migrants encroaching upon over 2,600 acres government land. Last December, activists took out a rally in Mangaldoi against the encroachment and sent the President, PM and Home Minister a memorandum, signed by 65,000 people.

The settlers remain an election issue, with the BJP promising deportation of the Muslims and refuge to the Hindus. Across the river from Gorukhuti, however, not much separates the two communities. They live under thatched roofs, pay Rs 10 per trip to cross a bamboo bridge, use boats to get their sick to a health centre — the one inside the settlement has been under construction for five years — and their children miss school for 2½ months every year because everything including the building goes under.

Incidentally, when India was declared polio-free, photos of vaccinators in some of these parts arriving on boats to administer drops earned India global praise. In these parts, boats are a compulsion, not a novelty.

“Where you are standing now becomes a river in monsoon. The school closes. To reach the health centre we have to use boats. Nothing remains here but water. Sometimes that is also the water we drink during the 2½ months. There is no electricity. When politicians come before elections, they promise a lot, but nothing changes,” said Dilawar Hussein, in front of his stationery shop made of asbestos sheets. The place can be accessed only by bike because a shower of barely 15 minutes had left almost 5 km of slush, not to mention the river that can only be crossed by rickety bamboo bridges.

The area has always elected a Congress MLA. The chatter this time, however, is what if Saharia walks away with the votes of the Muslims. The Hindus, meanwhile, tend to veer towards BJP. Said Promila Sarkar, who had come to the Gorukhuti PHC with chronic stomach pain, “On the day of the vote whoever comes to pick us up, we will vote for them.” It is usually the BJP who does that, she conceded after much pleading.

Said Jahidul Islam who teaches at a primary school: “There is no difference in the living conditions of Bangladeshi Hindus and Bangladeshi Muslims. Yet one votes for Congress, one for BJP.”

People in areas like Satkhali point at mud tracks that serve as roads for thousands to complain against Saikia. As for Zoiinath, they say he has come a long way from when he and Prafulla Mahanta were treated with reverence at the peak of the Assam movement. During the AASU agitation, Zoiinath headed its volunteer force, Swechha Sevak Vahini; his brother Dayal was brutally murdered by suspected Bangladeshi migrants in 1981.

Said Upen Hazarika, a businessmen, “People here are tired of the dolar bogoris (party hoppers).There is anger. Which way things go only time will tell.”