BJP made big promises in Assam. Can Sarma deliver on them?

On May 2, BJP and its allies in Assam not only won the mandate to form their government for a second consecutive term but also ended the speculation that the CAA would scupper the saffron party's prospects.

The BJP has overcome another challenge now – that of the delicate task of replacing a sitting Chief Minister. Sarbananda Sonowal has been replaced with Himanta Biswa Sarma as the new CM. The challenges that lie ahead for the Sarma government amid the pandemic, however, seem tougher, given the big promises that the BJP made during the campaign to ensure that the anti-CAA sentiments did not turn into votes against it.

Making Assam "infiltrator-free”, flood-free and violence-free tops the list of promises the BJP brass repeatedly made to voters. "The Covid-19 pandemic is definitely the biggest challenge for us at the moment. But fulfilling the promises we made to the voters -- be it waiving the microcredit loans, giving a new dimension to the Arunodoi scheme (cash benefit transfer) and making Assam flood-free -- are definitely the tasks on which we have to deliver," Sarma told reporters soon after taking oath as CM on May 10.

‘Infiltrator-free’ Assam

The BJP poll manifesto promised a "corrected NRC" as part of its vision to make Assam "infiltrator-free”. Although the manifesto did not spell out how it plans to correct the NRC even after the release of the final updated list, Sarma said, "We want re-verification of 20% applications in the districts bordering Bangladesh and 10% in the rest of Assam. If the re-verification reveals large-scale anomalies, we will urge the court to have another look into the issue." The NRC list was updated under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

The final list of the NRC, released in August 2019, had left out a little over 19.06 lakh people, out of the 3.29 crore applicants, triggering a citizenship crisis in Assam. These people failed to prove with documents that they or their forefathers lived in Assam on or before March 24, 1971, the cut-off date decided in the Assam Accord of 1985. The accord had promised to detect, delete (from voters’ list) and deport the post-1971 migrants to Bangladesh, irrespective of their religion.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had claimed credit after the draft NRC was released in July 2018. But Sarma was the first politician to reject the final list of the NRC, saying that many ineligible persons made it to the list while genuine citizens were left out. The change in stand, according to BJP workers, was due to the fact that the final list left out more Hindus than Muslims. BJP wants to give citizenship to the post-1971 Hindus through the CAA and identify the post-1971 Muslims alone as "infiltrators" through the "corrected" NRC.

Two days before Sarma took oath as CM, Hitesh Deb Sarma, the state co-ordinator of NRC, moved the Supreme Court with a plea for complete, comprehensive and time-bound re-verification of the draft NRC list and the supplementary lists published in 2018. BJP insiders admitted that preparing a flawless NRC in the next five years is going to be tough given the complexities the process involves.

Flood-free Assam

Amit Shah made repeated claims before the polls that the BJP-led government would make Assam flood-free in five years by constructing big lakes and diverting floodwaters for irrigation and tourism purposes. Addressing the annual flood problem in Assam has remained a promise during every election in the state but no party in the past had made a claim about making the state flood-free in five years.

"It is not a pragmatic promise at all. It is not at all possible to tame the mighty Brahmaputra, which flows down from Tibet. The people of Assam are dependent on flood for agriculture, irrigation. Again, if there is no flood, animals in Kaziranga and many other rain-fed forests will disappear due to lack of grass and food stock," Robin Medhi, a BJP worker in Jagiroad in Morigaon district in central Assam had told DH before the elections on March 27. BJP retained the Jagiroad seat.

Ahead of the 2016 elections, the BJP had promised to address the flood problem by dredging the Brahmaputra, Barak and the tributaries, but the promise remained unfulfilled in the past five years. In his first meeting to review flood control measures, CM Sarma hinted about a similar attempt and asked officials to identify the rivers where dredging is possible. Assam reports more than 100 deaths in floods almost every year while thousands of hectares of croplands are damaged or eroded.

Militancy-free

In his first press conference as CM, Sarma appealed to Paresh Baruah, the leader of the banned militant group ULFA (Independent) to come forward for talks and end its 40-year-long armed violence. The appeal was part of the BJP's pre-poll promise of making Assam violence-free in five years. Another faction of ULFA and the rebel groups in Bodoland region have already joined the mainstream but the Paresh Baruah-led group is still carrying out violent activities. An employee of ONGC who was recently abducted by the group is still in its captivity.

Baruah, who is believed to be hiding somewhere on the Myanmar-China border, called up local television channels welcoming Sarma's appeal. A few days later, the ULFA group declared unilateral ceasefire for three months citing the Covid-19 situation. Many in the BJP termed this a new step towards "lasting peace" in Assam.

Political observers in Assam believe that fulfilling the economic promises, such as waiving the micro-credit loans (estimated to be Rs 1,200 crore) and giving one lakh jobs would also be big challenges for the Sarma government given the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.