Aggressive welfarism and checking “infiltration” is the BJP’s main poll plank in Assam where the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act is a post-script to “infiltration” that the party is aggressively identifying with the rival Congress’s ally Badruddin Ajmal of the All India United Democratic Front (AUDF).
The BJP’s thrust on CAA in West Bengal is much stronger than Assam where the sentiment around Assamese sub-nationalism is against migrants belonging to all religions, including Bangladeshi Hindus to whom the central law provides easy access. But in West Bengal, the sub-nationalism nuance is absent so the party is much more vociferous about CAA which ostensibly targets Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh. In Kolkata, while releasing the party manifesto on Sunday, the Home Minister Amit Shah said CAA would be “implemented in the first Cabinet meeting of the BJP government in Bengal”. But the tone was much milder in the Assam where the BJP is the ruling party. “CAA has been passed by Parliament and it will be implemented in letter and spirit,” said BJP President JP Nadda while releasing the party’s manifesto.
Accusing Congress
Nadda was far more aggressive on “infiltration” per se for which the BJP has solely focused on AUDF which has its voter base largely among Muslim migrants. “Very clearly, we should understand that in a way Congress supports infiltration. BJP is the only party which has not just been speaking but taking active efforts to check infiltration,” he said. The party’s manifesto in Assam mentions “upholding Assam’s rights through corrected National Register of Citizens (NRC)”.
While polarisation is a part of the BJP’s poll plank, the other significant part is aggressive welfarism owing to which it has weaned away chunks of the Congress’s traditional voter base in Assam. The tea garden workers, who form about 17 per cent of the State’s population and are an important factor in about 40 of the total 126 Assembly constituencies, have been exclusively targeted by the BJP through central and state welfare schemes. The State Government has opened 7.3 lakh bank accounts of tea garden workers and introduced direct benefit transfer schemes such as Assam Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar. In the Union Budget, ₹1,000 crore was announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the welfare of tea garden workers in Assam.
Women welfare
Simultaneously, the BJP manifesto pledges to strengthen the crown jewel of all welfare schemes in Assam, the Orunodoi scheme under which women receive direct cash transfer of ₹ 830 per month. The scheme is already a massive hit among women and the BJP plans to increase the amount to ₹3,000 a month, a measure that will not go unappreciated in an impoverished State.
Additionally, the BJP promised to provide free education to every child, make arrangements to control floods and ensure that the State achieves self-sufficiency in production of essential commodities.