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National

Statehood under the scanner

SUSHANTA TALUKDAR
Guwahati

Geographically, the Autonomous District constituency comprises Assam’s biggest district, Karbi Anglong (almost the size of Tripura), and the North Cachar Hills district. Both these hill districts enjoy autonomy under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

The sitting Congress MP, former Union Minister Biren Singh Engti, is locked in a four-cornered contest with CPI(ML-Liberation) candidate Jayanta Rongpi, Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) candidate Elwin Teron and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Kulendu Daulagupu.

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani chose this reserved constituency to kick off the party’s campaign in Assam. His election rally was held in Kheroni, which has a concentration of Hindi-speaking sugarcane growers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

They have been vocal against a controversial land law — passed recently by the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) — that prohibits any sale or purchase of land by non-tribals. The BJP has promised scrapping of the law, with an eye on the non-tribal vote in Karbi Anglong.

The BJP candidate belongs to the Dimasa tribe, the major one in North Cachar, and is banking on taking advantage of the erosion of the Congress influence in his community. The constituency slipped out of Congress hands in 1991 against the backdrop of a powerful Statehood movement spearheaded by the ASDC and backed by the CPI (ML-Liberation).

Dr. Rongpi won the seat for three consecutive terms in 1991, 1996, 1998 on an ASDC ticket and once again in 1999 on a CPI (ML-Liberation) ticket. Dr. Rongpi too has protested against the land law on the ground that it infringes on the fundamental rights of the indigenous non-tribal people.

The ASDC candidate Elwin Teron finished second in the 2004 election, polling 1,01,751 votes (25.36 per cent) pushing Dr. Rongpi to the third place.

Mr. Engti regained the seat in 2004 by taking advantage of a split in the ASDC.

With three strong opponents, the contest this time is expected to be tougher for Mr. Engti, who polled 31.38 per cent of the votes in 2004 to win the seat by a small margin of 24,121 votes.

The fact that nearly 57 years of autonomy has failed to remove the backwardness tag from the two hill districts of the constituency has bolstered the demand for carving out an autonomous State (comprising the two hill districts).

With as many as nine insurgent groups currently active in the region (of which two have reached a ceasefire agreement with the Centre), a lot will depend on whose side they take in the election.

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