If this were a film, it would be quite a potboiler. The top film hero of Assam has turned a politician and is contesting elections for a party that he used to abuse till a few months ago. But Biju Phukan, the Asom Gana Parishad's (AGP) star candidate for the prestigious Dibrugarh Lok Sabha constituency, is unapologetic. Far from it, he feels he knows the people well as ``shooting in villages has taken me close to the masses''.The man who has acted in over 70 Assamese films, apart from a couple of Hindi and Bengali films, knows how to straddle roles, and his story for this switch goes like this. Till a few months ago, Phukan admits, he was critical of the Prafulla Kumar Mahanta government. ``I used to accompany delegations led by the All-Assam Students' Union to different places, where we used to lambast the government for its failure to keep promises,'' Phukan says. The change of heart apparently came when Mahanta, who is also the AGP president, called him to his residence and said he knew about Phukan'sgrouses. The film star says: ``He told me, `Why don't you join the party and help us find solutions to the different problems?'''Two weeks ago, Phukan took the plunge. Almost immediately, he was named the AGP candidate for the Dibrugarh seat. Justifying this, he says: ``Remaining an actor for more than three decades was mostly babbling out what the script has for me. But that does not keep me off real life. Most Assamese films are shot in villages unlike Hindi films, and this has taken me close to the masses over the years.''But Dibrugarh won't be a joyride. Since the first general election, the constituency has elected a Congressman, including during the anti-Emergency wave of 1977 and the AGP sweep of 1985. Congress leader Paban Singh Ghatowar has been holding the seat since 1991 and is standing again. Dibrugarh, incidentally, is perhaps one of the richest districts of the country. It produces natural gas, tea, plywood, fertilisers and power, and has the continent's oldest oil refinery.But theunfazed Phukan has his script all worked out. ``I was born and brought up in Dibrugarh,'' he points out. ``I began my career as a stage actor and orchestra member there. Ab-out 30 of my films were shot in the district. But most importantly, the common people know what the Congress has done for the constituency.''Besides flashing the ``son of soil'' card, he is also wooing the 2.65 lakh tea labourers in the seat, a significant chunk of the 9.65-lakh-strong electorate. They have traditionally supported the Congress, but Phukan is calculating that the vote will be split courtesy the presence of a Nationalist Congress Party candidate and the nominee of new group called the Assam Labour Party comprising tea plantation labourers. ``Election after all is all arithmetic, and I have sincerely tried to work it out correctly,'' Phukan says.In his campaigns, he has begun accusing Ghatowar, the son of a tea labourer and the leader of the powerful Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangh (ACMS), of not doing anything for the tealabourers or the district. ``The Congress talks of tea labourers, but they are getting only Rs 39 per day. The Assam Medical College virtually collapsed when Ghatowar was the Union minister for health. The Namrup fertiliser factory has been lying closed for nearly one decade. The power plant and petrochemical plant, also in Namrup, are sick. The mega gas-cracker plant at Tengakhat has remained a non-starter. And Ghatowar has not raised his voice even once in Parliament. The people don't want a dumb man in Delhi,'' Phukan tells voters.He is also spending time with the tea garden workers, singing their jhumur songs and dancing their dances. A number of ``Soor Vahini'' - small groups of folk singers - are also on his payrolls. Former MLA Padma Koiri, a former tea labourer and film actor, accompanies him everywhere. The CPI(M), which has about 50,000 members in the constituency and is an AGP ally, is also campaigning for him. Besides all this is the local cable TV network. With about one lakh connections inthe 10 towns of the constituency, it is an apt platform for the star in him.And if Ghatowar is likely to get Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the campaign, Phukan is roping in film actors and actresses. ``Bhupen Hazarika and Mithun Chakraborty are likely to tour Dibrugarh for me,'' he claims.All the stars in the world may not change his fortune, but Phukan has rewritten destiny before. In 1969, he had started his career as an extra in Doctor Bezbarua. Within two years, he had gone on to win an award for acting.
