“Joi Aai Axom! (Victory to Mother Assam)”. This is how Abu Hanif, a leader of the students’ wing of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), ended his speech at Bilasipara’s Idgah grounds while seeking a fourth term for AIUDF supremo Badruddin Ajmal from Dhubri.
The slogan was leitmotif of the six-year-long Assam Agitation (1979-1985) against illegal immigration from Bangladesh into areas like Dhubri and Barpeta. Three Ds — detect, delete from electoral rolls and deport — became a defining statement as the politics of miya, a term that is used to refer to Bengali Muslims, versus khilonjia, indigenous community, took centre stage in Assam.
Mr. Ajmal’s foray into politics is also closely linked to the issue. In 2005, after the Supreme Court scrapped the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) or IMDT Act — a law meant to protect the Bengali-speaking people from any harassment in the process of detecting foreigners — he floated his own outfit.
In 2009, the AIUDF chief won the Lok Sabha election from Dhubri, until then a Congress bastion. Since then, both Mr. Ajmal and his party’s political clout have steadily grown while the Congress lost its ground among Bengali Muslims.
At Bilasipara’s Idgah ground, AIUDF supporters, wearing gamusas, traditional scarf, make a clear statement about assertion and assimilation of cultures and identities. Speeches are being delivered both in Assamese and Bangla.
“Our issues are not just about NRC [National Register of Citizens] or the CAA [Citizenship Amendment Act]. We are also focussing on education, health and connectivity,” Mr. Hanif said.
As the crowd waits for Mr. Ajmal’s helicopter to land, his party’s student wing leader tells us how ‘Ajmal Super 40’ is a huge success. Under the scheme, the Ajmal Foundation identifies and provides academic and financial support to students to prepare for medical, engineering and civil services exam.
“His foundation also runs 73 schools across the State where children of all faiths get equal opportunity. No other politician can match his record,” said Mr. Hanif in an apparent reference to the challenger from the Congress.
In the past 15 years, this is the first time the Congress has posed a serious challenge to Mr. Ajmal by fielding Rakibul Hussain, the party’s deputy leader in Assam Assembly, from this border seat.
Dhubri is the now only Lok Sabha seat in Assam where Muslims make up a majority. After the 2023 delimitation, the constituency is estimated to have 26 lakh voters, with 70 % Bengali-speaking Muslims, Mr. Ajmal’s core supporters.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Bishwa Sarma along with AGP president and Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora campaign for Asom Gana Parishad candidate Phani Bhusan Choudhury in Bijni Barpeta district of Assam on May 3, 2024. | Photo Credit: The Hindu
“BJP and AIUDF have taken local politics to a different direction. Both parties have a secret understanding. Assam Chief Minister, in an interview, said that Badruddin wanted him to be the CM from his heart,” declared Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to an enthusiastic crowd at Dhubri’s Balajan.
Swaying to ‘Khela Hobe’, originally the Trinamool Congress’ election anthem during the 2021 Bengal Assembly election, supporters of the Congress jostled to get a glimpse of Ms. Vadra, who got out of the sunroof of her SUV to wave at the crowds.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Bishwa Sarma. | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had earlier declared that the BJP does not need miya votes, also campaigned for his ally, Asom Gana Parishad’s (AGP) candidate Jawed Islam. “They [people of Dhubri] have always elected the Congress or the AIUDF. I am not calculating this seat,” Mr. Sarma had told The Hindu.
But he is certainly calculating the neighbouring Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency, a seat that elected Congress’ Abdul Khaleque in 2019 and Mr. Ajmal’s brother, Sirajuddin Ajmal of AIUDF in 2014.
However, post delimitation, Muslims no longer make majority of the voters. While the BJP’s ally, AGP has fielded veteran MLA Phani Bhushan Choudhury, Congress replaced Mr. Khaleque with Deep Bayan in Barpeta. CPI(M), part of United Opposition Forum Assam, made it a triangular contest by fielding its MLA Manorajan Talukdar.
“This time, the contest is between CPI(M)’s Talukdar and the elephant,” Kamala Das, a 75-year-old vegetable vendor in Barpeta, said referring to the election symbol of the AGP.
