There's Much Ado about Assam's proposed 'second capital Dibrugarh' card pushed by Chief Minister Himanta

"We often see things differently because we only read the title". 

The announcement about designating Dibrugarh as Assam's second capital by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is such a phenomenon. 

Mere announcement actually means nothing. Yet there is a political weightage in the announcement. 

The Dibrugarh region and the parliamentary constituency is the political Karma-bhoomi of Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and hence Himanta might have played a smart political card.  But the announcement is important even otherwise as this move could be game-changer in time to come if Himanta is really serious and does the implementation part religiously. 

"The second capital announcement vis-a-vis Dibrugarh does not bother me. Nor does it excite.... My father used to say we lost our house in Dispur locality of Guwahati in the 1960s when Assam capital was brought from Shillong (now in Meghalaya) without doing any ground work," says Ajith Borah, a local resident at Chabua near Dibrugarh. 

Another resident at Tinsukia, a busy money-spinning commercial hub, also sounds quite skeptical. 

"I am like a gardener in the temple complex. I water plants and do the digging. At the end of the day I get a plate of Prasada and some cash. Whether today is Poornima or any special puja does not bother me much," he says. 

The candid observation is to make it clear that whether 'Dibrugarh as a new capital' is a reality or not; what is important is people should get jobs, the drainage should improve. 

Health care is still not satisfactory and in places like Digboi - there is scarcity of drinking water.

"Of course, roads have improved a lot ... But there is no other industrialisation project. The Upper Assam or eastern part of our state is being kept neglected," says Pannalal Gupto, a hotelier in Tinsukia. 

                                                          Snap Panna Lal Gupto

The BJP's growth in Assam is largely the contributions of southern part Bengali-dominated Barak Valley -- which gave a saffron party veteran Kabindra Purkayastha. 

But coinciding with the Modi wave, the saffron party started doing well in Upper Assam in 2014 and in 2016, it came to power after projecting Sarbananda Sonowal -- a tribal - as the party face.  

Importantly, the Adivasi or tea plantation workers, along with the dominant Ahoms and communities such as the Mataks and Morans also deserted the Congress.

There are about 250 Sikh families in Dibrugarh region and according to a local businessman Sardar Baghel Singh, the saffron party will "retain" the support base in Upper Assam yet again. 

However, there are skeptics who say in lower Assam --Guwahati belt - the BJP may suffer immensely in 2026 assembly polls. 

It may be also pointed out that during Partition era of 1947, Dibrugarh was one of the highest revenue-collecting centres in the country. But things did not stand well after that and the graph started dropping.

Slowly this became a neglected region of Assam state.

In fact in the 1970s when the Assam agitation over foreigners' influx was at its peak; protagonists cited that "oil from Digboi" was being taken away by the Govt of India without giving Assam and more specifically the Upper Assam region what it deserved. 

Old timers say, the British invested quite substantially in a 65-km stretch from Dibrugarh to Margherita in the early 1880s.

By then Asia’s first oil well was drilled at the nearby Digboi town. The talk is the locality was named 'Digboi' as Britishers used to employ local labourers and used to direct them to "dig" the earth to extract oil. 

A railway track was soon started and that helped transport coal, tea, and timber from Margherita and stations en route to the river port (Brahmaputra) at Dibrugarh. 

The town developed into a busy commercial capital and also an administrative hub of eastern Assam.

Making the announcement for developing Dibrugarh as state's second capital, Himanta Biswa Sarma said - “The construction work for a permanent Assembly building in Dibrugarh will start on January 25, 2026".

He also said a session of the Assembly will be held in Dibrugarh every year from the year 2027.

In effect, the Chief Minister indicated his party’s determination not to let its support base in ‘Ujoni Asom’ (Upper or eastern Assam) slip.

The Brahmaputra Valley of Assam is temperamentally divided into ‘Ujoni’ and ‘Namoni (Lower or western) Asom’. 

The Ujoni has been the power centre in the State since 1978 and has given Assam six Chief Ministers.

The six 'smaller communities' including Ahoms, Mataks, Morans and Adivasis backed the BJP during the last decade hoping to get what the Congress did not grant -- the status of Scheduled Tribes (ST).

In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP maintained its dominance and picked up nine parliamentary seats.

However though expected to 'perform better' after the 2023 delimitation, which led to the redrawing of the constituency map, in 2024 it did not do so well even as it could nine seats.

Much to the chagrin of BJP poll strategists, former Congress veteran Tarun Gogoi's son Gaurav Gogoi (also a favourite of Rahul Gandhi) won the prestigious Jorhat seat.

In Dibrugarh, Sarbananda Sonowal won the seat securing 54.27% of the votes polled -- but this was about 9 per cent less than his BJP predecessor Rameswar Teli's votes in 2019.

Overall, the BJP’s vote share increased by 1.02% to 37.43% in 2024, while the Congress increased its tally by 1.69% to 37.48%.

The Dibrugarh  election table shows there is something to concern. 

• Sarbananda Sonowal

  

  BJP

  693,762
• 

  Lurinjyoti Gogoi

  

  ASMJTYP

  414,441
• 

  Manoj Dhanowar

  

  AAP

  137,864
• 

  NOTA

  

  NOTA

  32,255

Pls note -- The NOTA vote figures stood at 32, 255 -- This is one of the highest such a tally in the national level and most of it is perhaps due to "anguish" of BJP support base as "ex Congress leaders and workers" are now dominating BJP's politics in Assam.

Former RSS cadres and BJP leaders are sidelined both in Cachar or Barak Valley and also in Upper Assam.

Hence, the 'second capital' card has been pushed not without good reasons.

In 2026 assembly polls, there is yet another vital factor that may damage BJP's prospects.

Analysts feel, the Congress and its regional partners Raijor Dal and Assam Jatiya Parisad, may do well in Upper Assam. 

Many BJP supporters have serious complaint that the Congress legacy of governance and its lapses associated with the Upper Assam still continue. 

ends