Modi’s high-stakes Barak Valley visit
Dominated by Bengali Hindus; the Barak Valley in Assam is considered BJP's pocket-borrow. Yet stakes are high. A civil servant in Dispur exuded confidence -- "Come what may; the Bengali Hindu voters will have no alternative. The fear of Miya (Muslim influence) is so much that they will be compelled to vote for the pro-Hindutva Lotus party".
But the BJP leadership does not want to leave anything to chances and hence so much importance about PM Narendra Modi's Silchar visit on March 14.
Of course by then, chances are bright that the battlelines will be more clear and even candidates would be announced. Nevertheless, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will accompany the Prime Minister during the politically crucial trip.
Assam Minister Kaushik Rai, who heads the Barak Valley Development Department, said that a public meeting will be held at the Ramnagar bypass over a 200-bigha site, with arrangements being made to accommodate nearly two lakh people.
Authorities have drawn up a special traffic-movement plan to prevent congestion in Silchar town.
Silchar's traffic menace is sickening. In fact, decongestion of the busy commercial town is one of the top political issues in this year's polls.
Under the proposed traffic plans for March 14, during the Prime Minister's visit -- attendees and BJP Karyakartas and supporters from Sribhumi (once called Karimganj) and Hailakandi districts will be routed directly to the venue without entering the town.
Separate traffic arrangements are also being finalised to enable residents of Silchar and adjoining areas to reach the meeting ground in an orderly and decongested manner.
Among the proposed programmes; the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for the ambitious Panchgram–Silchar high-speed expressway, popularly known as the Silchar–Shillong bypass.
Hence Assam poll schedule will be announced only after March 15th. If the poll Model Code of Conduct comes into play; no launching of new projects would be allowed.
Sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 22,000 crore, the Shillong-Silchar bypass project will drastically reduce travel time between Barak Valley and Guwahati to approximately 4.5 hours from the existing 12 hours or more.
It will unlock new economic and logistical opportunities for southern Assam and help boost the prospects of hard working local communities including Bengalis (both Muslims and Hindus), a large section of Bhojpuri people, Manipuris and tribals.
This will help bring prosperity in neighbouring Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram too.
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Narendra Modi will also lay the foundation for the long-awaited Silchar Flyover, a Rs 564-crore project aimed at easing traffic congestion and modernising the town’s road network.
Chief Secretary Ravi Kota said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will accompany the Prime Minister at the Silchar event.
The political significance of the visit is well understood.
The Prime Minister is also scheduled to lay the foundation stone for the first Agriculture College in Barak Valley, to be established in the Dohalia area of Patharkandi constituency in Sribhumi district.
Sribhumi was earlier called Karimganj. Both Hailakandi and Karimganj are Muslim-dominated areas and entry of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants is a political issue. Nevertheless no body seems to have a good answer to this problem even as things stand much better here in Assam vis-a-vis checking the inflow of new 'guests' unlike border areas of West Bengal.
The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Agriculture College -- that will come up in the Dohalia area of Patharkandi.
Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Minister Krishnendu Paul along with BJP's Silchar MLA Dipayan Chakraborty, Chief Secretary Ravi Kota, Assam DGP Harmeet Singh, Cachar Deputy Commissioner Aayush Garg and Cachar SSP Partha Pratim Das, inspected the venue and reviewed administrative preparations to ensure smooth execution of the programme.
The BJP had won 67 seats in 2021 and the total NDA seats were 86. This time the much ambitious BJP target is 80 to 100 seats in the 126-member assembly. The Lotus party also wants to win a few seats held by Congress and also AIUDF, which remains a Muslim-friendly party. Hence there is always an added effort to win key seats in Sribhumi (Karimganj) and Hailakandi regions.
A boothworker Sanjeev Dutta in Hailakandi area of Barak valley says : "One area of concern in some of the AIUDF held seats is that Muslims are slowly turning away from Badruddin Ajmal led party.
That means Bengali Muslims in particular may turn in favaour of the Congress". Agreeing with him, shopkeeper Dinesh Sen says - "If Congress starts getting Muslim support, the grand old party may get back its rhythm that had been missing so far".
In 2021; while the Congress could pick up 22 -- the AIUDF had won 15. The assembly constituencies such as Sonai, Hailakandi and Badarpur held by AIUDF will thus see intense fighting. A former journalist is reportedly keen to try his electoral fortune this year especially from Hailakandi region.
The Congress has started focusing on Borkhola seat and has identified one popular medico Dr Amit Kalowar. This has almost ruffled the political applecart in two other constituencies Udarbondh and Lakhipur.
ends
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