Birshing anxious over BJP's anti-migrant tirade

It takes a boat ride of an hour on the Brahmaputra from Dhubri ghat to reach Birshing Char, where about 10,000 people from the Bengali Muslim community live.

Since the Birshing Char sandbar is not very far from the riverine Indo-Bangladesh border in lower Assam’s Dhubri district, these people are isolated from the main political discourse in Assam, where many label them as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

The Dhubri districts and its adjoining areas are seen as the stronghold of the Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF. Ajmal himself is the MP from Dhubri. It is from Dhubri and several Chars (sandbars on the Brahmaputra) that in 2006 Ajmal launched AIUDF giving scope to political assertion on his main vote bank — the Bengali Muslims, who were earlier committed Congress voters.

In Birshing Char, thousands of voters are anxious since the BJP, in its poll campaign, has launched an anti-migrant tirade.

“We want the politicians to speak on development. What are they doing for lakhs of people who live in hundreds of Chars on the Brahmaputra? They are talking of religious polarisation. We are worried” said Hafizur Zaman, a youth from Birsing Char.

 Three million people, about 12% of Assam’s population, mostly peasants and fishermen, live on nearly 2,500 island villages (Chars) on the Brahmaputra. Every year, massive floods and equally horrific erosion by the Brahmaputra threaten their lives. Thousands of these people migrate from one island to another in search of shelter and livelihood. There is almost no sense of governance in these Char areas.

“At Birsing we have almost nothing. There is no power, no safe drinking water, no roads. People here thought the Maulana is a god man. He would bless people and work for their development. But it seems his agenda these days is power-centric politics. Earlier, people voted for him after he performed sorcery for the betterment of people from the Char” explained Sarjamal Haq, a local school teacher .

Birsing Char falls under the Salmara (South) constituency where Ajmal himself is contesting. The Congress has fielded former minister Wajed Ali Choudhury against him .

There are hardly any roads in the Char, but smart phones have arrived.
“Some of the youth from the Char who study and work outside brought back smartphones, but mobile connectivity is very poor here. With no power even for charging the cell phone, we have to travel one hour and reach Dhubri ghat” Char resident F A Sikdar told DH.

 As for power source, the char dwellers only have solar panels that can light a CFL bulb for a few hours. So every day when they come to Dhubri town for work, they pay ten rupees to the local shopkeepers to get their cell phone charged and stay connected.