Assam Elections, BJP & BD

[rockey 71]

BJP's Assam vision document a poll gimmick: AASU, Congress

New Delhi Correspondent, bdnews24.com

Published: 2016-03-27 12:04:31.0 BdST Updated: 2016-03-27 12:04:31.0 BdST

Days after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced that it will seal the India-Bangladesh border and act tough against illegal migrants from Bangladesh, All Assam Student Union (AASU), an influential student organisation of Assam and the Congress has termed it as a “poll gimmick.”


“Before every election, political parties make such claim. But after the election they always take U-turn,” said AASU general secretary Lurin Jyoti Gogoi to bdnews24.com.

In fact, during the 2014 election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that his government would detect and deport the illegal Bangladeshis coming into Assam and other northeastern states.

Ironically, after the election, Modi did not mention the issue even for once.

Instead, his government has announced to give refugee status to the Hindu Bangladeshi migrants who entered Assam following disturbance in Bangladesh. The stand adopted by the Centre had already generated a huge controversy in the state.

“Narendra Modi had said that all the clauses of the Assam Accord would be implemented. But nothing has happened,” said AASU leader Gogoi. AASU had signed the historic Assam Accord in 1985 with the then Congress government to end the vigorous anti-foreigners movement in late 70s.

Referring to the issue of NRC update that was included in BJP’s vision document, Gogoi said that it was only due to the intervention of the Supreme Court that government has initiated the process to update the NRC.

On Friday, while releasing the Assam Vision Document 2016-2025, senior BJP leader and India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitely has said that the India-Bangladesh border would be sealed and tough against would be taken against people employing illegal migrants, “if BJP forms the government in Assam.”

Senior Congress leader BK Hariprasad said, “It (vision document) is nothing only a poll gimmick of BJP and Narendra Modi.”

“BJP always try to gain popularity at any means. In Assam, they first talk about Muslim, then Bangladeshi and now corruption…but our party under the leadership of Tarun Gogoi would retain power in Assam,” said Hariprasad to bdnews24.com.

Citing the developmental works being done by the Congress government in Assam, Hariprasad said that there will be no anti-incumbency factor against the Congress in Assam.

“Anti-incumbency takes place if there is no development. But during the last 15-years, development has taken place in all sectors in Assam,” said the senior AICC leader.

Following rebellion of a few Assam Congress leaders, it was anticipated that Congress is likely to face a serious anti-incumbency factor in the election.


http://bdnews24.com/neighbours/2016/03/27/bjp-s-assam-vision-document-a-poll-gimmick-aasu-congress

 

[rockey 71]

BJP fights Assam election on anti-Muslim plank


Shamsuddin Ahmed


As Assam goes for polls to the state assembly on April 4, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has vowed to disenfranchise lakhs of Muslims accusing them of illegal immigrants and promised to deport them to Bangladesh raising fears among them who constitute 34.2 percent of population of Assam. The pre-election promises of BJP stalwarts have also raised concern in Bangladesh where the present government of Awami League claims to be the most trusted friend of Delhi.
The threat against the minority Muslims is said to be an attempt at polarizing the voters on religious lines. Hindtuva and anti-Muslim slogans paid rich dividends to BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Narendra Modi had told the so-called illegal immigrants in states bordering Bangladesh to have their bags packed ready to be sent home should his party win.

Modi threatens Assam Muslims
Modi’s statement has raised tension and stocked violence in Assam in which more than 10 people were killed, mostly Muslims. He and his party BJP won vast majority. But he did not dare to force them out of the country. Muslims had dominated politics of Assam before and immediate after the partition of India. They cannot be easily discounted. Some BJP hardliners might be thinking in line with Myanmar where the military junta rendered the Rohingya Muslims stateless depriving them of voting right. But, can India do it in Assam?
India’s Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has warned against polarization of voters on religion lines. He told the Assamese that BJP wanted to stoke violence in the state by promoting Hindtuva politics. In fact, Hindtuva politics has made a quiet entry in Assam ahead of polls. In August, members of Vishaw Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal took out a procession from a veterinary hospital in Hallakandi to the town’s main market protesting the killing of a monkey allegedly by Muslims.
The protesters’ contention was that Lord Hanuman was killed. In Sonaribari town, anti-Muslim movement followed after somebody threw chunks of meat suspected to be beef into the 60-year old Kali Mandir on February 19 night. Locals said such incidents were handiwork of vested interest group but were enough to put the neighbourhood on fire causing damage to life and property.
Religious strains between Hindu and Muslims have increased in four years since the last Assam state election. The new trend in the state where land and ethnicity, not religion, have been the reasons for most conflicts. In 2015, 70 incidents of low-key religious conflicts reported, up from 17 in 2011 last state election. Muslims account 34.2 percent of state population. Hindu organizations point to their growing numbers to promote thoughts that they might become a dominant group.

BJP desperate to win
BJP Assam state president Sonowal said Assam is facing external aggression and internal disturbances because of illegal immigrants. He compared the ensuing election with the battle of Saraighat, the 1671 war fought on the Brahmaputra River in which the Assamese defeated the Mughals. Former leader of Assam Students Union (APSU) Sonowal is one of the pioneers of movement against so-called illegal immigrants. He switched over to BJP deserting the Assam Gano Parishad (AGP).
After a heavy defeat last autumn in Bihar state assembly election, the BJP has pursued a more confrontational line. It has promoted the idea that India is a Hindu nation and rounded on ‘anti-national’ opponents, in what critics say is an attempt to marginalize minority Muslims. It has taken the Assam election as a prestige issue for an effective inroad in the insurgency ridden Northeast India which is ruled by the Congress except CPI(M) ruled Tripura. Tarun Gogoi of Congress is the chief minister of Assam for the three consecutive terms and is contesting for the fourth term. BJP has entered into election alliance with AGP and a group of ethnic tribes. It is counting to win 84 seats in the 126-member state assembly.
Separatist ULFA army chief Paresh Baruah strongly opposed to BJP threatened the party on the eve of Narendra Modi’s visit to Assam twice in March. He has threatened to foil the BJP mission of securing 84 seats in the election. In the past ULFA targeted BJP leaders and killed some of them including party candidates in 1999 and 2001 election. Accusing outsiders more than 100 Hindi speaking people were also killed in the past decade.
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) of Moulana Badruddin Azjmal, the largest opposition group in the current Assam assembly with 18 members, is an important factor in the election. Known for protecting the interest of minority Muslims, the AIUDF has bases among neglected, deprived sections of the society because of its charitable functions. The party doubled its strength in the last election and hopes of increasing the tally this time as well.

Promoting communalism
“We all know what has happened to the Rohingya Muslims. It could happen to us too,” Aminul Islam, an AIUDF leader told a rally. He added: There’s a conspiracy to disenfranchise 4 million of us. We will become stateless if we are not united.”
Assam is the second highest Muslim populated state in Indian after Kashmir. The BJP’s plan of polarizing voters on religion risks re-igniting communal tensions that have led to deadly clashes between Hindus and Muslims.
Analysts, however, doubt that there will be a full-scale drive to expel Muslim immigrants. “All this is pre-electoral mobilization,” said Ajai Sahni of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, which tracks security issues across South Asia. “You don’t have a state that has the capacity, the instruments and the institutions to do anything about this, he added.”
One thing is certain. Modi euphoria is cooling down in India. A survey conducted by India Today last month showed Modi popularity is still holding up but with sharply reduced majority. If national elections are held today, Congress would double its seats. Besides Assam, four other state assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Pondichery, Kerala and West Bengal will be held in April-May.

 

[rockey 71]

April 03, 2016

SUNDAY POUCH
Assam's Assembly election and Bangladesh

Assembly election in four states, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and one Union Territory Puducherry, will be held in April, May. Photo: indiatoday.in

Ashfaqur Rahman
It is interesting that the election to Assam's legislative assembly in India has aroused much debate recently. The election is expected to be held in two phases on April 4 and April 11 this year. Seats in all 126 constituencies are up for grabs; a political party will need 64 seats to attain a majority. The Congress now holds 78 seats, and its leader Tarun Gogoi is the current chief minister of Assam. The tenure of the present Assam assembly ends on June 5. Since Assam is an adjoining province of Bangladesh, it is natural for us to take a deeper interest in the ongoings in the state.

Prior to this election, the Indian National Register of Citizens was updated only this January. In fact, the Supreme Court of India was monitoring this update. 1.92 crore voters has been recorded for this election. The main reason behind this detailed updating of the electoral roll is to check what the voters in Assam, as well as the political leaders there, consider “illegal immigration from Bangladesh” to Assam as “very alarming”.

In order to attract voters to vote for the Congress Party in the coming elections, Chief Minister Gogoi announced that if his party returned to power with a majority, he would supply rice at Rs 2 per kg and build religion bhawans. On the other hand, Congress' main challenger, the BJP headed by Prime Minister Modi has, through Home Minister Rajnath Singh, pledged that they would complete the fencing along the Bangladesh-India border to bar any future illegal immigrants from Bangladesh entering Assam. Assam shares a 263 km long border with Bangladesh, out of the 4,096 km long international border between the two countries. Yet, about 44 km of the boundary passing between the two countries has no fencing, and there's little hope that one can be built in the future, as the Brahmaputra River flows between these two territories.

In Assam, the religious configuration is 61.5 percent Hindus and 34.22 percent Muslims. The Christian populace is only 3.7 percent of the total Assamese population. It must be noted that Muslims came there about eight centuries back. In fact, out of the 32 districts in Assam, nine are Muslim majority, according to a 2011 Assam census. It should be noted that before the Partition of India in 1947, internal movement was commonplace between the regions of what is now Bangladesh and the regions of Assam and West Bengal. During the pre-partition days, Assam was thinly populated, and the British colonial government was keen to exploit the rich resources of this region. It, therefore, did not mind the movement of people from northern India, West Bengal and the present territories of Bangladesh. During the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, about 10 million Bangalees had moved to different parts of India. There was also a moderate flow of Bangalees to nearby Assam. However, after the end of the war, there was a flow back of the temporary exodus. Yet, in 1978, it was noted by some Assamese observers that about 45,000 Bangalee names were in the electoral roll of Assam. But they were of Hindu religious persuasion. Thus, by 1982, the agitation by Assamese to deport these people to Bangladesh petered out. However, by the end of 1982, the Indian central government had called elections in Assam and triggered the movement to deport this small group. As a consequence, it led to the 1983 Nellie massacre, which was followed by the All Assam Students Union calling for whole scale deportation of this group of migrants for economic reasons, but they did not resort to violent means. The Nellie massacre, however, was never subject to official investigation.

In 2015, the current president of BJP, Amit Shah, stated in Guwahati that his party would give citizenship to all Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, terming them as 'victims of religious persecution'. But we need to analyse the extent of this claim; as situations stand today, it would be hardly credible to state that there is religious persecution in Bangladesh or fewer economic opportunities for Hindus, when compared to India. Moreover, when one compares the state of the territories of Assam to Bangladesh, one would find it to be quite poor. With 6.2% annual growth and a greater diversification of the economy, one could argue that there is a larger flow of Indian citizens to Bangladesh now. The living conditions are better and there is better availability of jobs than in neighbouring Assam or even some other parts of India. There have been reports of more and more Indian citizens coming to Bangladesh as tourists, and overstaying their visa when they find gainful employment here. They send back large remittances to India informally. In 2012, Indians working in Bangladesh have reportedly sent $3.7 billion in remittance, as part of their pay from their employment in Bangladesh. Citizens of India, belonging to West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura and Mizoram, mostly work in the NGO, RMG, textiles and IT sector, and send back money through a hundi system.

It is now clear that the economy of Bangladesh is only improving, as the country is swiftly moving towards a middle income status. As this is in fact the case, there is less or no need for Bangladeshi themselves to seek their fortune in a less developed region like Assam.



The writer is a former ambassador and a regular columnist.

E-Mail : ashfaque [email protected]

http://www.allbanglanewspapers.com/the-daily-star.html

 

[Rashi Shetty]

Assam assembly elections have shown tremendous turnouts. It also shows how impressive the voter count has been into for this area.

 

[Kshatriya87]

Well, at least we agree on one thing. Even I've been waiting desperately to see the day when Modi actually starts and successfully deports all immigrants. Alas !!

 

[Kshatriya87]

Assam assembly elections have shown tremendous turnouts. It also shows how impressive the voter count has been into for this area.

Any idea who is leading?
.......................................

 

[Kshatriya87]

BJP fights Assam election on anti-Muslim plank


Shamsuddin Ahmed


As Assam goes for polls to the state assembly on April 4, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has vowed to disenfranchise lakhs of Muslims accusing them of illegal immigrants and promised to deport them to Bangladesh raising fears among them who constitute 34.2 percent of population of Assam. The pre-election promises of BJP stalwarts have also raised concern in Bangladesh where the present government of Awami League claims to be the most trusted friend of Delhi.
The threat against the minority Muslims is said to be an attempt at polarizing the voters on religious lines. Hindtuva and anti-Muslim slogans paid rich dividends to BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Narendra Modi had told the so-called illegal immigrants in states bordering Bangladesh to have their bags packed ready to be sent home should his party win.

Modi threatens Assam Muslims
Modi’s statement has raised tension and stocked violence in Assam in which more than 10 people were killed, mostly Muslims. He and his party BJP won vast majority. But he did not dare to force them out of the country. Muslims had dominated politics of Assam before and immediate after the partition of India. They cannot be easily discounted. Some BJP hardliners might be thinking in line with Myanmar where the military junta rendered the Rohingya Muslims stateless depriving them of voting right. But, can India do it in Assam?
India’s Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has warned against polarization of voters on religion lines. He told the Assamese that BJP wanted to stoke violence in the state by promoting Hindtuva politics. In fact, Hindtuva politics has made a quiet entry in Assam ahead of polls. In August, members of Vishaw Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal took out a procession from a veterinary hospital in Hallakandi to the town’s main market protesting the killing of a monkey allegedly by Muslims.
The protesters’ contention was that Lord Hanuman was killed. In Sonaribari town, anti-Muslim movement followed after somebody threw chunks of meat suspected to be beef into the 60-year old Kali Mandir on February 19 night. Locals said such incidents were handiwork of vested interest group but were enough to put the neighbourhood on fire causing damage to life and property.
Religious strains between Hindu and Muslims have increased in four years since the last Assam state election. The new trend in the state where land and ethnicity, not religion, have been the reasons for most conflicts. In 2015, 70 incidents of low-key religious conflicts reported, up from 17 in 2011 last state election. Muslims account 34.2 percent of state population. Hindu organizations point to their growing numbers to promote thoughts that they might become a dominant group.

BJP desperate to win
BJP Assam state president Sonowal said Assam is facing external aggression and internal disturbances because of illegal immigrants. He compared the ensuing election with the battle of Saraighat, the 1671 war fought on the Brahmaputra River in which the Assamese defeated the Mughals. Former leader of Assam Students Union (APSU) Sonowal is one of the pioneers of movement against so-called illegal immigrants. He switched over to BJP deserting the Assam Gano Parishad (AGP).
After a heavy defeat last autumn in Bihar state assembly election, the BJP has pursued a more confrontational line. It has promoted the idea that India is a Hindu nation and rounded on ‘anti-national’ opponents, in what critics say is an attempt to marginalize minority Muslims. It has taken the Assam election as a prestige issue for an effective inroad in the insurgency ridden Northeast India which is ruled by the Congress except CPI(M) ruled Tripura. Tarun Gogoi of Congress is the chief minister of Assam for the three consecutive terms and is contesting for the fourth term. BJP has entered into election alliance with AGP and a group of ethnic tribes. It is counting to win 84 seats in the 126-member state assembly.
Separatist ULFA army chief Paresh Baruah strongly opposed to BJP threatened the party on the eve of Narendra Modi’s visit to Assam twice in March. He has threatened to foil the BJP mission of securing 84 seats in the election. In the past ULFA targeted BJP leaders and killed some of them including party candidates in 1999 and 2001 election. Accusing outsiders more than 100 Hindi speaking people were also killed in the past decade.
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) of Moulana Badruddin Azjmal, the largest opposition group in the current Assam assembly with 18 members, is an important factor in the election. Known for protecting the interest of minority Muslims, the AIUDF has bases among neglected, deprived sections of the society because of its charitable functions. The party doubled its strength in the last election and hopes of increasing the tally this time as well.

Promoting communalism
“We all know what has happened to the Rohingya Muslims. It could happen to us too,” Aminul Islam, an AIUDF leader told a rally. He added: There’s a conspiracy to disenfranchise 4 million of us. We will become stateless if we are not united.”
Assam is the second highest Muslim populated state in Indian after Kashmir. The BJP’s plan of polarizing voters on religion risks re-igniting communal tensions that have led to deadly clashes between Hindus and Muslims.
Analysts, however, doubt that there will be a full-scale drive to expel Muslim immigrants. “All this is pre-electoral mobilization,” said Ajai Sahni of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, which tracks security issues across South Asia. “You don’t have a state that has the capacity, the instruments and the institutions to do anything about this, he added.”
One thing is certain. Modi euphoria is cooling down in India. A survey conducted by India Today last month showed Modi popularity is still holding up but with sharply reduced majority. If national elections are held today, Congress would double its seats. Besides Assam, four other state assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Pondichery, Kerala and West Bengal will be held in April-May.

Why shouldn't they? Their strategy is exactly right. I would support it. But the problem lies after winning the elections. The BJP party does not follow through its promises. If only they did that, they wouldn't go out of power.

 

[Kshatriya87]

Also, why does the BJP need to win the assembly elections in order to drive the immigrants out? Isn't holding power at the center enough for that? If only they had enough guts to do that, they would be able to do it even without winning those elections.

 

[HariPrasad-1]

Any idea who is leading?
.......................................

http://www.elections.in/blog/assam-election-opinion-poll-2016/

 

[HariPrasad-1]

This by 5 forty 3.

 

[rockey 71]

If in fact on ground there w

Also, why does the BJP need to win the assembly elections in order to drive the immigrants out? Isn't holding power at the center enough for that? If only they had enough guts to do that, they would be able to do it even without winning those elections.

If there were actually on ground any illegal immigrants. Political bombast is something else.

 

[Chinmoy]

Also, why does the BJP need to win the assembly elections in order to drive the immigrants out? Isn't holding power at the center enough for that? If only they had enough guts to do that, they would be able to do it even without winning those elections.

Have you heard about NRC in Assam? It was to be completed in Dec 2015 as per Supreme Court and draft report had to be out by Jan 2016. But the lackadaisical attitude of Assam govt had stressed it for June to July. Even they have made a joke of the verification process. Now central govt can't simply interfere in this matter because this whole thing is carried under SC mandate and central govt can't interfere with their decision. Moreover state govt have to simply give some excuse to delay this process.

Now lets talk about one of the prominent minister who is serving Assam govt. Rakibul Hussain, had been state forest minister from 2011 and currently holding health ministry post. Under his tenure Kaziranga, Orang and other sanctuaries did lost a vast area to illegal inhabitants and by talking to them you would know from where they are. Or better you ask anyone who had visited these sanctuaries and try to learn who these inhabitants are and why Forest and Police personals had been unable to eradicate them. One more interesting fact about this gentleman is that, he is son of Nurul Hussain, who at the time of partition had aggressively wielded a sword and supported the inclusion of Assam into erstwhile East Pakistan. At that time Assam meant the whole of present day Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and parts of Manipur and Mizoram.

Now I think you would know why BJP or a pro nationalist party need to win here.

 

[bose]

If BJP wins Assam election, they should implement the Myanmar model for Rohingya solution ...

 

[Bornubus]

If BJP wins Assam election, they should implement the Myanmar model for Rohingya solution ...

.........................

 

[raja696]

If BJP wins Assam election, they should implement the Myanmar model for Rohingya solution ...

BJP won .............................

 

[Mikesingh]

BJP won .............................

And both the CongrASS and AASU are eating crow!!

 

[Kshatriya87]

If BJP wins Assam election, they should implement the Myanmar model for Rohingya solution ...

Don't think they will take that much of an extreme step. But if it was up to me, I would revoke the identities of assam muslims claiming they are fake identities given to illegal immigrants and would push them out of India.

 

[bose]

Don't think they will take that much of an extreme step. But if it was up to me, I would revoke the identities of assam muslims claiming they are fake identities given to illegal immigrants and would push them out of India.

BJP must do it else they become irrelevant in next election...

The first step is to build a electric barbed wire fence in the Indo - Bangla border immediately ...

The second step is the identify all those who are not in the voter list and deport them immediately if they are without a valid travel documents...

The third step is to identify all those who are citizens / voters but are illegal migrants from Bangladesh as those have to prove their continuity of living there from last 50 years, else they are illegals... Take back their citizenship and start deporting...

 

[OneGrimPilgrim]

Don't think they will take that much of an extreme step. But if it was up to me, I would revoke the identities of assam muslims claiming they are fake identities given to illegal immigrants and would push them out of India.

and do that after collecting their biometrics, strip them of their Voter IDs, Aadhar card, ration cards, etc. since these days we are having centralized databases, they cant move to another state & get these cards. from here on game over for them!

 

[OneGrimPilgrim]

The first step is to build a electric barbed wire fence in the Indo - Bangla border immediately ...

The second step is the identify all those who are not in the voter list and deport them immediately if they are without a valid travel documents...

The third step is to identify all those who are citizens / voters but are illegal migrants from Bangladesh as those have to prove their continuity of living there from last 50 years, else they are illegals... Take back their citizenship and start deporting...

since this is also twitter sarkaar, we should ensure that we keep them nudging on this lest they dont turn lax.