With over 35 lakh voters influencing nearly 50 seats, Assam’s tea community becomes a decisive force as parties intensify outreach ahead of elections.
The community often forms a critical mass capable of swinging electoral outcome.
Over the last two decades, the BJP-led NDA has made significant inroads by leveraging welfare interventions, wage revisions, and targeted financial assistance.
This has rendered the community’s electoral preferences more competitive.
The entry of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has added a new dimension to the electoral contest.
Contesting in 16 seats, the party has been working to build a base among tea tribes, whose historical roots trace back to the Chhotanagpur region of present-day Jharkhand.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has also visited Assam twice, during which he prominently highlighted issues concerning tribal identity and social welfare. The JMM is in alliance with Congress in Jharkhand, but discussions for a tie-up in Assam failed.
The political ground reality is well understood by both the BJP and the Congress. Both the parties have fielded eight candidates each from the politically sensitive community.
Several constituencies are set to witness direct contests involving leaders from the tea community. In Udharbond, itt’s BJP’s Rajdeep Goala (a Bhojpuri) verses Congress candidate Ajit Singh.
In Doomdooma, BJP’s Rupesh Gowala faces Congress’s Durga Bhumij, while in Titabor, BJP’s Dhiraj Gowala is pitted against Congress’s Pran Kurmi.
At Rangapara, Kartik Chandra Kurmi of Congress will battle it out against BJP’s Krishna Kamal Tanti.
There are over 850 tea gardens in the state and this makes the 'tea growing community' the largest workforce and a formidable electoral bloc.
It plays a decisive role in at least 38 Assembly seats – primarily in eastern Assam – and holds the potential to influence outcomes in around ten more. Even as the BJP has gained grounds among the population, the Congress party has managed to retain pockets of influence.
The Congress could not have won Titabor assembly seat in 2021 and Jorhat Lok Sabha seat by Gaurav Gogoi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections without their support.
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| Blogger in Upper Assam |
The Congress, however, has questioned both the intent and impact of these welfare measures. Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangh president and former Congress MP Paban Singh Ghatowar described the schemes as fiscally unsustainable.
He argued that while direct benefit transfers and cash assistance may provide temporary relief, they do not address structural issues such as income security and wage adequacy.
Ghatowar also pointed to unmet promises, including the long-pending demand for a daily wage of Rs 350, and warned that rising public debt could undermine the sustainability of such welfare-driven approaches.
Asserting that the sops may not necessarily translate into votes, Ghatowar pointed out that despite an enormous effort, the BJP lost the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Jorhat where an overwhelming majority of tea community voted for the Congress.
His son Pranjal Ghatowar, who is contesting in Congress ticket from Chabua-Lahowal seat, echoed him and said,
“Every government has beneficiaries. The present State economy is chaotic. Inflation is rising.
They are building hospitals but they don’t have doctors, quality of the education is going down, unemployment is on the rise. All the BJP rhetoric is hollow, and voters are realizing this,” Pranjal said.
The BJP has fielded a few locally high-profile candidates from the community, including Rameswar Teli (Duliajan), Sanjay Kishan (Makum), Pallab Lochan Das (Biswanath), Rupjyoti Kurmi (Mariani).
The Congress, meanwhile, has placed its bets on candidates such as Roselina Tirkey (Khumtai) and Dr Amit Kumar Kalwar (Borkhola).
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