By Amit Kumar, TwoCircles.net
Haflong: Dima Hasao, the least populated district of Assam, goes to polls on April 4 and like most of the state, this is turning out to be a straight fight between the ruling party Congress and the BJP. Or so it seems.
For the people, however, the issues that worry them the most have hardly been at the centre of the electoral campaigns. The electoral fight sees Nirmal Langthasa of Congress against Birbhadra Hajeri of the BJP, Maya Singh Daulogupu of Hill State Demand Council and Neikhol Haolai Changsan of the AIUDF, a party that is contesting from the region for the first time. So far, this seems like a pretty straightforward script, but read on to know why this place matters so much in the battle for Assam.
First, and most importantly, Dima Hasao has an autonomous Council called Dima Hasao Autonomous Council, earlier known as North Cachar Hill Council. Set up in 1952, it is the oldest autonomous council in he country. For the unitiated, an autonomous council functions like a mini-state: it has its own elections, its own cabinet and its own cabinet to ensure that the culture of the tribals is protected and promoted. The council, like the assembly seat, has been under the rule of Congress, for almost the entire period of its existence. Until now, this has meant that their rule has been absolute: state, ssembly and council.
This is likely to play a major role in the fight for Dima Hasao. However, this has also resulted in arming the opposition with a host of issues and with power at the centre, the BJP is trying its level best to use these to their advnatage. The Congress is trying an age-old tactics of dynastic politics to wade through all the opposition. In a classic Congress move, their candidate for this seat is the son of GD Langthasa, the veteran Dimasa leader from the region who has been representing Dima Hasao for the past 30 years. The Congress, through the 15 seats that it has in the Autonomous Council, is likely to use them to mobilie support in their favour. But that is understandable, because when it comes to achievements, the list is short; some would say, too short to guarantee their victory.
No water, few jobs: Haflong on the edge
To start with, for a district that receives so much rainfall, water scarcity ranks among the top concerns of the citizens; in Haflong, the district headquarters, pople have to often wait for over a month for water supply and sometimes even longer. The Congress candidate, during a TV debate orgainsed in Haflong by Assamese Television channel DY 365, attributed the scarcity to “lack of perennial rivers and deforestation” and even suggested that shifting agriculture, the most common and the oldest form of agriculture, must be stopped. Towards this end, he even pointed the finger at the Kukis, one of the 13 tribes of Dima Hasao, and asked the AIDUF candidate if her people would stop the practise. He chose to laugh off the matter when asked back by Changsang, “what do we do then?” When this correspondent asked why rain water harvesting is not promoted in the area, Labgthasa attributed to “lack of awareness among people.”
Then, there are the roads, or the lack of them, that has irked the locals to no end; bar the area around the Deputy Commissioner’s officce, almost all the roads are in various stages of neglect. Even in Haflong town, the bylanes have a semblance of what a road would look like, never the complete picture. The matters get worse for Congress; for they had got a Korean infrastrucure company a few years ago to work on the projects, but, as a BJP spokesperson asked, ”what was the point of getting Koreans if they were also going to mix the same cement and sand, and that too not properly?” His question made nearly all of the audience laugh at the televised debate, except, of course, the Congress brigade.
Then, there is the all-familiar point of corruption. The opposition alleges that the Langthasa regime has witnessed numerous projects stalled and funds siphoned off. In fact, 200 employees of the Autonomous Council had not been paid their salaries for the past one month and last week, the employees launched an agitation to ensure that their demands are met. Given the timing of the protest and the fact that this could derail the party’s electoral campaign, Congress took immediate action and paid three months’ salary. However, Debojeet Thaosen, the Chief Executive Member of the Autonomous Council, said there was no chance that this would have a negative imoact on their campaign. “There are more than 200,000 voters in the area and of them only 200 are employed by the Council, so it wil not impact our campaign,” Thaosen told Twocircles.net.
The Congress’ biggest achievement, they claim, is the peace that they have brought back to the distrct. From early 90s until 2009, the area wintessed a bloody armed struggle from various groups who were demanding a separate state. However, given that the last major armed group, the Dima Halam Daoga (G) surrendered in October 2009, the argument that they are still woking to maintain peace is not convincing a number of the residents. “It took them almost 20 years to bring peace, but now even after seven years we are yet to see any major deelopment in the area. What are they waiing for now?”asked a resident.
The other issue that has been troubling the citizens, and more importantly, the youth, is the lack of employment opportunities for the local. A local youth who wished to be not named due to his family connections with the Congress candidate, aptly summarised the frustrations of the youth. “Until a few years ago, youth from villages around Haflong could find odd jobs in Haflong while the youth from Haflong mostly moved to Guwahati and other larger cities for work. But now, jobs in Haflong have shrunk and even the youth in the city have few opportunities outside after the BPO sector shrunk,” he says. “The youth have little to do here, and this does not bode well for their future,” he added. When this correspondent asked Nirmal Langthasa about the issues of the youth, his answers was largely dismissive and ambiguous. “Even well-to-do Indians go abroad for jobs. We are looking to address the issues,” he said without elaborating much on what his actual plans were.
AIUDF could spoil the big-two fight
The one candidate that has the potential to spoil he BJP-Congress fight is Changsang, the AIUDF leader. Given that the party is contesting elections for the first time, few people are giving her a chance of winning the elections. However, AIUDF has played its cards well, fieding the first-ever woman candidate from he district. However, this is not Changsang’s only USP: she is the only non-Dimasa, non- Hindu candidate in the fray. Of the 13 tribes in Dima Hasao, the Dimasas are not only the most in number, but they are also associated with the Hindu religion; at least when it comes to celebrating Hindu festivals while continuing to preserve their tribal culture. Changsang, who insisted that her candidature was aimed to provide “voice to the voiceless”, told Twocircles.net that the AIUDF provided a viable opportunity to both the Congress and the BJP. When asked if she felt that her non-Dimasa and non-Hindu roots put her at a disadvantage, she said, “No. Two-thirds of Dima Hasao’s population is non-Dimasa and non-Hindu so by that logic, it should work to AIUDF’s advantage. I have worked in this area as a social worker and the people know me well.”
A good performance by AIUDF will surely dent the chances of the Congress, because most people believe that votes for AIUDF would come mostly from the share of the Congress. The BJP knows this too, and given the general apathy of the people against the Congress’ regime, this is likely to be the BJP’s best chance to win Dima Hasao. On April 4, when Dima Hasao goes to polls, the future of 200,000 people will be at stake. Which party gets to sterr ther ship remains to be seen.