Gauhati High Court order on wage hike to tea workers gave a shot in the arm for BJP

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TINSUKIA: Tuesday's ruling of the Gauhati High Court on the interim wage hike to tea workers gave a shot in the arm to the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), especially in Tinsukia district, feel political analysts here. The incumbent BJP will be able to cause further erosion in the strongholds of ACMS (Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha) on the vexed wage-hike issue, they added.

On Tuesday, the High Court had given the tea companies liberty to pay the interim wage hike as they deem proper, till the issue is finally decided by the Court. April 23 has been fixed as the next date of hearing by the Court. This direction came after the ITA (India Tea Association) and managements of 17 tea gardens of Assam challenged the Labour Department's notification on the issue of wage enhancement.

The ACMS with its central office at Dibrugarh is the largest trade union organizing labourers in tea gardens of the Assam Valley in north-eastern India.

Incidentally, the tea belt is equally important for both the BJP and the Congress. This is primarily because tea-garden workers constitute almost 20 to 40 per cent of electorates in the five LACs (Legislative Assembly Constituencies) in this district. While garden votes are the decisive factors in Doomdooma, garden electorates can tilt the balance in the other four constituencies, including Sadiya (south bank).

Without ruling out BJP's agenda to capitalize on the wage-hike issue in the tea gardens, ACMS vice president Raju Sahu has alleged that the BJP in collusion with the garden companies chalked out a strategy to challenge the interim wage hike of Rs 50 even as the ACMS, ATTASA (All Assam Tea Tribes Students' Association) and the Congress party had been demanding a wage of Rs 365 instead of Rs 351 which, he pointed out was committed by the BJP prior to the general election in the State in 2016.

A senior BJP leader said that the Government has been enhancing the wages periodically keeping all parameters into consideration. He hoped that the issue will be resolved and it will be acceptable to all the stakeholders in due course of time.

A senior Congress leader also said that the outcome was known even before after the ACMS had objected to the non-inclusion of its member in the wage-reconciliation committee constituted by the Government.

An ABITA official on the condition of anonymity said that if the tea managements were compelled to pay wage as demanded by various organizations without compromising the tea workers' hitherto material benefits, the entire tea industry would go bankrupt in the next couple of years.

While the BJP has already consolidated its position in tea garden by launching various schemes prioritizing on the Health and Education sectors besides awarding incentives, including cash during the past five years, the High Court's interim order has left the Congress virtually with no agenda to woo the voters in the tea gardens. As a result during the hustings, the Congress will have to work hard to take on the BJP across more than 140 tea gardens in Tinsukia district.

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