Battle for Jorhat: A straight showdown between two Gogois

 Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Playing a key role by Ahom and Tea Tribe voters, Jorhat in upper Assam is an all-time prestigious parliamentary constituency in the state. This constituency witnessed a neck-and-neck contest between the BJP and the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, and the BJP candidate won by a slim margin of 82,653 votes. The battle is no different between the BJP and the Congress in this Lok Sabha poll as well.

This constituency that is going to poll on April 19 in the first phase has four contenders, even though the contest is a direct showdown between BJP candidate Topon Kumar Gogoi and Congress candidate Gaurav Gogoi. Both Topon Kumar Gogoi and Gaurav Gogoi are sitting MPs, the former from Jorhat and the latter from Kaliabor. While state former minister Topon Kumar Gogoi has made his contribution to the state as the general secretary of the AASU (All Assam Students’ Union), MP Gaurav Gogoi has the political legacy of being the son of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. As an MP, Gaurav Gogoi has made his presence felt in Parliament. The other two candidates from this constituency are Arun Chandra Handique of the Ekom Sonatan Bharat Dal and independent candidate Rajkumar Duwarah. A significant coincidence in this constituency is that both the prime contenders belong to the Ahom community, Gogois. This is not all. All eyes in the state are set on the Jorhat parliamentary constituency, as it is viewed as a contest between two youth titans.

As is the case with other parliamentary constituencies in the state due to the recent delimitation exercise, the Jorhat parliamentary constituency has also undergone changes in its geographical area. This parliamentary constituency has ten assembly segments: Sonari, Mahmora, Demow, Sivasagar, Nazira, Majuli (ST), Teok, Jorhat, Mariani, and Titabor. The Jorhat Parliamentary Constituency has a total of 17,27,121 electors, comprising 8,48,924 males, 8,78,192 females, and five third genders. Female voters outnumbered their male counterparts in this constituency as well.

When viewed LAC-wise, the Sivasagar LAC segment has the highest number of 2,07,715 electors, and Majuli has the lowest number of 1,40,772 electors. Before the delimitation, Majuli was part of the Lakhimpur Parliamentary Constituency.

Jorhat Parliamentary Constituency has as many as 2,068 polling stations, and the Sivasagar LAC segment has the highest number of 269 polling stations. And the Mahmora LAC segment has the lowest number of 165 polling stations in this parliamentary constituency.

Jorhat Parliamentary Constituency witnessed as many as eight contenders in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. BJP candidate Topon Kumar Gogoi defeated his nearest Congress contender, Sushanta Borgohain, by a margin of 82,653 votes. While Topon Kumar Gogoi polled 5,43,288 votes, Borgohain polled 4,60,635 votes. However, Borgohain joined the BJP later, and he is an MLA of the ruling party now.

The campaign has reached its crescendo in this constituency. On behalf of Topon Kumar Gogoi, many stalwarts, including Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and many cabinet ministers, are on the battle field. Leader of Opposition in the Assam Assembly Debabrata Saikia, veteran Congress leader and ACMS (Assam Chah Majdoor  Sangha) president Paban Singh Ghatowar, and others have been campaigning for Gaurav Gogoi.   

While the ruling party has taken over the development narrative in the state after the BJP came at the helm of affairs in the state and at the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra  Modi’s guarantee to woo the voters, the Congress has been creating an alternative narrative of the BJP betraying the Assamese people and tea tribes without meeting pre-poll promises, besides forcibly implementing the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act).

A team of The Sentinel visited a few areas of the constituency to gauge the pulses of the voters. Surekha Bhuyan, a worker of Heelekah Tea Estate in the Mariani LAC, said, “We have seen some sort of development in the Tea Tribes areas under the BJP rule. ATM kiosks are a new development in our garden. We have ration cards now. Earlier, the local Congress leaders kept us in the dark about government schemes. Now we are aware of government schemes.”

The Sentinel team found a fair price shop, owned by Mukesh Sarma, at Heelekah Tea Estate. The team found the fair price shop has 609 ration cardholders, and as of April 5, as many as 569 families collected their rations from the shop.

The team also met a few women workers—PranatiBhengra, TulsiMunda, and Anjali Munda—plucking green leaves in the Titabor LAC segment. They said that they get Rs 250 per day, and they want the government to hike their daily wage.

Pallav Chaliha, a small tea grower in Titabor, said, “Jorhat is a prestigious constituency. I think the voters of this constituency will take the right decision.”

The team also visited Majuli. Interacting with the team, Deka Xatradhikar of Sri Sri Samuguri Xatra, Hemchandra Goswami, said, “I think the new government in the making should place stress on communication, education, health, and agriculture. We want quality work on the under-construction bridge over the Brahmaputra connecting Jorhat and Majuli. The Sri Sri Pitambordev Goswami District Hospital here has proper building infrastructure, but doctors, staffers, and medical equipment are inadequate. This is the major problem in Majuli, and the government needs to take care of it. The government also needs to look into the issue of erosion on the river island.”

Another Xatradhikar, Duttadev Goswami of Sri Sri Bhogpur Xatra, established by Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev, said, “Srimanta Sankardev and Madhabdev spent 18 years in Majuli. Since Sarbananda Sonowal was the Chief Minister, we have seen more development in Majuli. We expect the new government to be formed to complete the under-construction projects in Majuli in time. The government of India projected Ayodhya as a spiritual centre in the world. We also want the government to elevate Majuli to such a level in spiritualism.”

Shashwati Sabhapandit, a PG student in the Phulani area of the river island, said, “Jorhat and Majuli are cultural centres. These two areas have age-old monuments and other structures, including those of the Ahom era, that are unpreserved. The government to be formed at the Centre and the state government need to take care of this aspect. Despite Jorhat being a district headquarters, some of its roads are still in poor condition. Even the work on the national highway stretch from Jorhat to Dibrugarh is progressing very slowly. The government needs to lay stress on the development of road communication. The dying pottery (ceramics) industry of Majuli needs the government’s attention.”

A tea stall owner at KamalabariGhat said, “Since Jorhat is a respectable constituency, the representative from this constituency should be one who can raise the problems of Assam in the Parliament boldly.”

AASA’s (All Adivasi Students’ Association) Sivasagar district general secretary, Amir Siluar, a resident of Tihook Tea Estate, said, “Hiking the daily wage of tea garden workers up to Rs 351 was one of the election promises of the BJP. Providing ST status to the Tea Tribe was another promise of the ruling party. The government has not yet fulfilled these two promises. It is high time the government fulfilled these two promises.”

Mohendra Gogoi, a villager on the outskirts of Sivasagar, said, “The communication through the national highway is the major bottleneck in the upper Assam districts. It takes much time to travel from Jorhat to Sivasagar and from Sivasagar to Dibrugarh. The pace of work on the national highway has yet to pick up. The people of upper Assam want early completion of the national highway projects.”

The voters will seal the fate of the two Ahom titans on April 19, when the constituency will go to the polls in the first phase. The results on June 4 will put an end to all speculations as to which Gogoi will have the last laugh.

 Also read: Gaurav Gogoi’s win is certain: Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia (sentinelassam.com)

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