Poles apart

While the BJP's thumping victory has implications beyond Assam, the Congress is facing an existential crisis in the state

- BY JAVED PARVESH

Majuli, with the mighty Brahmaputra on the one side and the rough Subansiri on the other, is the world's largest inhabited river island. It is also the cradle of Assam's culture, where the saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardev established monasteries to nurture the neo-Vaishnavite movement. The children of Majuli were among the first to call Himanta Biswa Sarma 'Mama' (maternal uncle). “It went viral. Now, regardless of age, everyone calls him Mama. You can even see elderly women addressing him that way. It was even a question on Amitabh Bachchan's quiz show,” said a local man.

Even though it is not included under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, outsiders are not allowed to buy land in Majuli. This decision was taken by Sarma's government to protect the island's cultural heritage. Broadly, it was meant to prevent demographic changes, one of the key election issues in Assam and the central plank of Sarma's political narrative.

Sarma popularised 'Mama politics' in Assam—a mix of affection and authority. This approach helped the BJP-led NDA win 102 seats in the 126-member assembly, the highest in the history of the state. The BJP alone has two-thirds majority, while the opposition Congress was reduced from 29 to 19 seats and the AIUDF from 16 to 2.

The election outcome is an endorsement of Sarma's political narrative, one that might have had implications in neighbouring West Bengal, where the BJP scored a thumping victory against Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, as well.

Four main factors worked in the BJP's favour in Assam: its stance on the Bengali-speaking 'Miya' Muslims (often accused by the party as infiltrators from Bangladesh), its development initiatives, the welfare schemes, and the perception that the BJP is protecting Assam's indigenous culture.