DIBRUGARH/NAGAON(ASSAM): If upgrading of national highways and construction of roads in the rural belts of Assam could win an election, then the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party should race to power, leaving in its wake a Congress-led alliance and a large number of smaller, ethno-nationalist political parties.
From Tinsukia in the eastern tip of the state to Nagaon in middle Assam and beyond, dumper trucks, JCBs, bulldozers and road rollers work through the day, forcing traffic to weave left and right at regular intervals. While rural roads are being metalled, the national highways are being four-laned.
“The BJP has done a lot of development work, it has made roads, toilets and houses,” said Sanjib Bora, an owner of a shack restaurant next to the national highway in Chabua, Tinsukia. “People here will support the BJP for this.” Bora’s sentiment was endorsed by Dhanesh Pegu, also a roadside dhaba owner in Dhemaji district next to the recently-opened Bogibeel bridge, the longest one on the Brahmaputra river. “Modi ne bahut kaam kiya hain (Narendra Modi has done a lot of work),” he said.
“Take the Bogibeel bridge for instance, The foundation stone was laid by (H D) Deve Gowda, then (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee did some work but after that there was a Congress government both at the Centre and in the state but nothing happened. When Modi came he finished the bridge,” Pegu said. It’s no wonder then that from Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Sarabanda Sonowal and state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to the ordinary BJP karyakarta (worker), development is one of the main talking points.
“What we have done in the past five years the Congress could not do in 15,” said Tutun Kar at the party’s dimly-lit and sparse Nagaon district office. Assam’s Swachh Bharat Mission says more than 35.64 lakh toilets have been built since October 2014, with a 62% increase in households with the facility. As for housing, state culture minister Naba Kumar Doley said in May 2020 that 2.7 lakh houses have been built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
The latest data on the increase in road network is not available but according to the Assam Economic Survey 2017-18, surfaced road increased from 21,200 kms in 2011-12 to 27,003 kms in 206-17. National highways in the state increased from 2,848 kms to 3,900 kms in the same period.
But the positive sentiment around the Assam government’s development record is somewhat marred by the price rise. “Everything is so expensive now, dal prices have gone up and mustard oil now costs almost Rs 150 (a litre). I voted for Modi the last time, I am not sure this time,” said housewife Sarita Pegu in Dhemaji.
Noor-ul-Islam in Nagaon concurs with Sarita on inflation. “There is no doubt the BJP government has brought development but what about the price rise? If they have given us Rs 2 in our bank accounts, they have taken away Rs 98,” he said.
Price rise weapon in the hands of Assam Congress
The price rise has come in handy for the Congress to beat the BJP with. “What has the BJP done on jobs and price rise? Their promises are embarrassingly unfulfilled,” said party leader and parliamentarian Gaurav Gogoi. Gogoi isn’t wrong when it comes to jobs. In some other parameters also Assam lags behind many other states, although many of them could be a legacy the BJP government inherited.
According to Assam Agenda 2030, a task-at-hand document brought out by the Sonowal government in early 2018, the “unemployment rate stood at 61 per 1,000 population (age 15 and above) against the national figure of 50 per 1,000 population.” Poverty and hunger also plague the state. “The poverty head count ratio for Assam was estimated at 27.34 percent in 2015-16. This is much higher than the all-India average of 20.74 percent,” the Agenda 2030 said.
“Similarly, hunger remains a major problem in the state. Amongst children, the most vulnerable group in this respect, almost 30% below the age of 5 are undernourished,” it said. But the BJP remains confident. “We are on the way to getting more than 100 seats (out of the total 126) because of our development work,” said Simanta Bora, a party leader in the district of Nagaon.