Assam Assembly Elections 2026: ‘Suraksha’ is the buzzword this poll season

From wall posters to LED billboards and YouTube theme songs, the BJP and the Congress are invoking 'suraksha' to frame contrasting visions of Assam’s identity.

Guwahati: 'Suraksha', or protection, has emerged as the common word anchoring the campaign narratives of both the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress in Assam, as they prepare to lock horns in the single-phase Assembly elections on April 9.

From wall posters to LED billboards and YouTube theme songs, the two arch-rivals in Indian politics are invoking 'suraksha' to frame contrasting visions of Assam’s identity — an issue that has dominated the State’s politics since the 1980s.

Led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP is seeking a third consecutive term, promising protection for Sanatani Hindus and indigenous communities. The Congress, meanwhile, says that true protection lies in “restoring Bor Axom”, an inclusive, secular Greater Assam.

“In the last 10 years in power, the BJP has taken bold steps, from eviction drives against infiltrators to pushing illegal migrants back into Bangladesh. The party has also moved to implement clauses of the Assam Accord, a promise the Congress made to the people way back in 1985 but never fulfilled,” Dipjyoti Parashar, a BJP worker in Guwahati’s Hengrabari area, told DH.

Parashar stressed that the BJP has laid the foundation for securing Assam and its people against the threat of “Bangladeshi Muslims” and said that the party needs to remain in power for at least another decade.

"The Centre has also started giving citizenship to the Hindus under the CAA. At the same time, steps have also been taken to secure the future of indigenous communities," Parashar said.

Speaking in Guwahati on March 15, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, "Himanta Biswa Sarma’s government has freed 1.5 lakh bigha of land from infiltrators so far. Give us a mandate for another five years, and not just in Assam, we will search out and remove infiltrators across the country.”

Meanwhile, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi has alleged that in the name of fighting infiltrators, the BJP and Sarma are dividing people along religious lines and resorting to atrocities merely to win votes.

"People have realised that only the Congress can secure Assam against Sarma's politics of hate, threat and exploitation...In the name of development, Sarma is amassing wealth in his family's name," he said.

The major contest is set to be between two alliances, led by the BJP and the Congress, while attention will also be on the fate of the Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF, which is contesting the polls alone after a long gap. The BJP has renewed its alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP),  the regional party born out the anti-foreigners movement (1979-1985), and reinducted the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), a party formed after signing of the Bodoland Accord in 2003.

The BJP, however, has literally dumped the United People's Party Liberal (UPPL), its ally since 2020 and a rival of BPF in Bodoland, given changing equation in Bodoland politics.

The Congress, on the other hand, has reoriented its alliance by joining hands with the Raijor Dal and the Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), two regional parties born out of the anti-CAA agitation that turned violent in Assam in 2020. In doing so, the Congress also decided to maintain distance from Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF to shed its tag of being pro-Muslims. The new alliance, according to Congress insiders, would help prevent split among anti-BJP parties like it happened in 2021.

The election is also going to be a battle of leadership between Sarma and Gogoi. A win for the BJP will be a victory for Sarma's leadership too as it is the first election with him at the helm as the Chief Minister. For Gogoi, however, a victory will be a "revenge" of the defeat his father, Tarun Gogoi, faced in 2016, a year after Sarma switched to the BJP. 

Delimitation 

The BJP camp says the delimitation exercise, carried out in 2024, would benefit it as it reduced the number of Muslim-dominated constituencies to 22 to 26 from 30 earlier.

"The Congress will do well in the 20 to 26 seats only as they are fighting the polls to protect only the Bangladeshis," Sarma said.

With the delimitation reducing the chances of the AIUDF, several Muslim leaders, including former MLAs, have joined the AGP to win the election and be part of the BJP-led government. The AGP, which is contesting 26 seats, has given the ticket to 13 Muslims. 

Incentives and development 

Along with the card of identity politics, Sarma is also banking on the several cash incentive schemes such as Orunodoi, under which Rs 1,250 is being given to 40 lakh women every month. The Sarma government is also highlighting the big industrial investments Assam received under his tenure, including the State's first semiconductor unit at Jagiroad. 

The Congress, however, alleges that the BJP government was "haphazardly" handing over land to corporate groups while it failed to provide land to lakhs of landless indigenous families. 

The Congress is also questioning the BJP's failure to fulfill the promise of giving the Scheduled Tribe status to six more ethnic communities, in order to make a dent into the BJP's vote bank in the tea gardens and in Upper Assam, where the ethnic communities call the shot.