Assam assembly elections 2026 | Land, cash or ST status, what will influence tea garden voters?

Tea garden votes shifted from Congress to BJP in 2014 due to the promise of ST status and development.

Jorhat/Titabor: Dipa Kalandi literally flaunted the digital patta (land deed) she received from the BJP-led Assam government last month. The mother of five daughters, Dipa, aged about 35 years, came rushing with the patta in one hand and her youngest daughter on her arms inside Cinnamara tea estate near Jorhat town in eastern Assam.

"I am happy that mama (CM Himanta Biswa Sarma) has given us the patta but I need a house now. How can I live in this house with the children?" said Dipa, pointing to the bamboo thatched house with mud splattered walls behind.

Dipa Kalandi at Cinnamara tea estate in Jorhat.

"I need the Orunodoi scheme benefit (monthly Rs 1,250 now for eligible women) and supply of drinking water," Dipa, a worker in Cinnamara garden, a tea estate run by Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL), a government enterprise, told DH. "I was included in the Orunodoi but have not got the money in the last nine months," she said.

Many of her neighbours in the estate's labour line have got houses under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana, the lanes now have paver's blocks, the garden now has a model school and most women have got benefits of the flagship Orunodoi scheme. All these have been made available since 2016, when BJP came to power for the first time by ousting the 15-year-old Congress government led by Tarun Gogoi.

With over 35 lakh population in at least nine districts in eastern and north Assam districts, tea garden voters have been crucial and so have remained an important focus area for political parties every election, particularly the Congress and BJP. They are in the spotlight this time too for the April 9 Assembly elections.

On March 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an historic drive by formally starting distribution of digital land patta to over 28,000 workers' families. As promised before the polls in 2021, the BJP-led government decided to offer the land patta to 3.3 lakh families, something which they lacked despite living inside the gardens for decades. Kalandi is one such beneficiary.

Just before the polls, Himanta Biswa Sarma government provided Rs 5,000 cash incentives to tea garden workers and also hiked their daily wage by Rs 30, making it Rs 280 in the Brahmaputra Valley gardens. The BJP manifesto in 2021 had promised to enhance the wage to Rs 350 and this time it has promised to increase it to Rs 500 in the next five years.

Hope for ST status

BJP's another major pre-poll promise since 2014--meeting the demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Adivasi communities in tea gardens--however, has remained unfulfilled. "Mama may give the ST status after the elections," said Dipa with a smile.

The benefits of the schemes including the land patta and the hope about ST has made BJP confident about keeping their tea garden votes intact. "What Congress did not do in over six-decades, we have done in the past 10 years. Congress just used the tea garden voters to win elections," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. "We are also very seriously pursuing the ST status issue with the Centre," Sarma said.

Sabita Bhuyan, a worker in Duflating tea estate, a private-company garden at Titabor, about 30km away, just got a form for land patta. "They promised to give the patta after the elections," she said. Sabita, who has been working in the garden for the past 15 years, has got Rs. 5,000 but is yet to be included for the Orunodoi scheme. "Not all women here have got benefits of Orunodoi," Bhuyan said. She, however, was hopeful about getting the benefits after the elections.

Basudev Gosai, a tea garden worker at Kasojan tea estate, also in Titabor, traditionally a Congress stronghold (Tarun Gogoi elected four times) said BJP workers were luring the tea garden voters by distributing forms for land patta and Orunodoi benefits. The BJP manifesto also promised to enhance the Orunodoi benefit to Rs. 3,000 per month after the elections. "Why is the BJP not talking about the ST issue? Only ST status can secure our identity as Adivasis," he said.

Congress-BJP tussle

Given the crucial role tea garden voters play in elections in Assam, PM Narendra Modi on April 1 visited the Manohari tea estate in neighbouring Dibrugarh, plucked tea leaves and met the workers. Hours later Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi also addressed a campaign rally in tea estate in Nazira constituency, where a veteran Congress MLA and son of former Assam CM, Debabrata Saikia is seeking re-election.

Rahul Gandhi and Gaurav Gogoi also addressed a rally inside a tea estate in Titabor on April 2. More than 850 tea gardens are in Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Tinsukia, Charaideo, Golaghat, Biswanath, Sonitpur, parts of Nagaon and Lakhimpur districts. In the 2016 and 2021 polls, BJP had won in most of the seats, where tea garden voters are deciders.

BJP insiders say the party was focusing more on the tea gardens given the possibility of Muslims voting for the Congress this time in the Lower and Central Assam, due to the eviction drive and the communal narrative targeting the Bengali-speaking Muslims.

During an interview with DH on April 3 at his Jorhat residence, Gaurav Gogoi questioned BJP over its failure to fulfill its promise of granting ST status. "The tea gardens lack drinking water, schools in tea gardens have shut down, alcoholism has spread, violence against women has spread, many tea gardens have shut down during Himanta Biswa Sarma's tenure." Gaurav, who leads the Opposition alliance is contesting the Assembly elections for the first time, in Jorhat. Congress manifesto for the April 9 elections promise to address the ST issue.

Vikas Tripathi, an associate professor of political science at Gauhati University, however, believes that tea garden voters are unlikely to go back to Congress given its failure to address the ST status issue in the past.