Silchar ready for BJP-Congress face-off

SILCHAR: Since Independence, the Silchar parliamentary constituency in south Assam has been considered a Congress bastion.


Heavyweight Congress leader and Union minister Santosh Mohan Dev has won from here five times. Silchar is important politically because of its linguistic and demographic character and its strategic geographical location.

Though it has vast agricultural resources, including tea and rice, the Silchar constituency comprising Cachar district, is economically one of the most backward areas of the state. Sushmita Dev, the youngest daughter of Santosh Mohan Dev, is the sitting Congress MP of this constituency, and also the president of the All India Mahila Congress.

She is also known as a close aide of party chief Rahul Gandhi. In 1991, this seat was won by BJP veteran Kabindra Purkayasthya defeating nearest CPM rival Noorul Huda in the wake of the Ram Mandir agitation. Significantly, Santosh Mohan Dev, who won from this seat for three consecutive times since 1980, chose Tripura in 1991 and won leaving Silchar to a weak Congress candidate. Since 1991, while BJP won thrice (1991, 1998 and 2009), Congress won the seat four times. Since 1977, Congress has won seven times. After the death of Santosh Mohan Dev, his daughter Sushmita won from Silchar in 2014 on a Congress ticket. The constituency goes to the polls in the second phase on April 18.

There are seven assembly segments under the constituency-Silchar, Sonai, Dholai, Lakhipur, Udharband, Borkhola and Katigorah. Six of the seven assembly seats are currently represented by BJP while one seat is held by Congress (Lakhipur).

Key issues

What keeps haunting people of this constituency is their uncertain future because of their names not being listed in the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Bengali-speaking community lives in fear because of the government's failure to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 and the alleged harassment in the name of foreign nationals by the police and the Foreigners Tribunal. Thousands of 'D' voters are still being deprived of their voting rights. Economically, it is still an underdeveloped area and worsening the situation is the suspension of production at the Cachar Paper Mill, a unit of the state-owned HPC, and non-payment of salary to employees for two years. Bad roads, poor healthcare facilities, poor air connectivity-there is no night landing facility at Silchar airport-continue to plague this parliamentary seat. Unemployment is another problem which has no solution right at the moment.

While some of the rural roads have witnessed improvement over the years, the condition of the National Highway connecting Silchar with Meghalaya (NH 6) and Manipur (NH 37) is extremely poor. People of the region, who have been demanding road and rail connectivity with rest of the country though neighbouring Bangladesh, is yet to see their dream fulfilled. It is alleged that MP Sushmita Dev has failed to take care of the people's problems and she is not seen too often in her constituency. They also question the proper implementation of the MP area development fund.

Demographic pattern

The Barak Valley, including the Silchar constituency, is the hotbed of communal politics, with the Muslim population constituting more than 34% of the electorate. The tea folk comprise 12% and play a decisive role in the fray. While Manipuris are 4%, tribals are also 4%. The majority of the voters are Bengali

Hindus

. Silchar hardly sees any kind of communal tension. It's seen that whenever there's a strong Muslim candidate, BJP gains because the Muslim candidate eats up Congress's traditional votes. In 2009, BJP's Kabindra Purkayasthya won because AIUDF nominee Badruddin Ajmal turned a giant killer by pushing Congress heavyweight Santosh Mohan Dev to the third place. In 1991, BJP's Kabindra Purkayasthya won for the first time from Silchar because CPM's Noorul Huda enjoyed the massive support of the Muslim voters and he got two lakh votes. In 1998 also Purkayastya won because of the presence of Huda who was supported by Muslim voters.

The tea community in Silchar, who are known for their traditional support for Congress, are set to swing towards BJP in the changing political scenario. In last year's rural election, BJP swept the tea gardens. This may hit the prospects of Congress in the Lok Sabha polls too. However, with AIUDF staying away from Silchar and the absence of any strong Muslim candidate in the fray, the ensuing election may witness polarization on communal lines between BJP and Congress, in which Congress nominee Sushmita Dev enjoys an edge over BJP rival.

Contest

The fight for Silchar is expected to be a straight one between BJP's Rajdeep Roy and Congress's Sushmita Dev. In the 2014 parliamentary polls, Sushmita defeated BJP's Kabindra Purkayasthya, a three-time MP from Silchar, and former Union minister, by a margin of 35,241 votes. This time, BJP did not nominate the octogenarian Purkayastya because of the age factor. Incumbent Rajdeep Roy may have to encounter factors, including infighting in BJP, besides a strong fight from sitting MP Sushmita, who is armed with Congress's minority vote bank in the battle of the ballots.