A silent undercurrent in the tea gardens of Upper Assam

Elections in Dibrugarh are just four days away. But, on the ground, the usual fervour associated with elections – rallies, posters, buntings, – are hardly visible. Announcements are rare. There are the occasional BJP posters with the Dibrugarh incumbent candidate Rameshwar Teli on it, but no conspicuous campaigning by either the incumbent or his opponent Congress candidate Paban Singh Ghatowar.

But that doesn’t mean election isn’t on the mind of the people. It is being said the silence on the part of the BJP is likely because just two days ago, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had campaigned for Teli after having heard of his poor performance from tea estate workers.

Dibrugarh goes to polls along with the other Upper Assam constituencies of Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat and Lakhimpur. Tea gardens dot these areas and these estates are the main sources of employment for the state’s tea community. Including the workers, their families and ex-workers, who live in and around these estates, they add up to more than 32 lakh and account for more than 17% of the state’s population. Moreover, Dibrugarh is also home to an industry built around oil and gas extraction and coal mining.

Sitting in the north of the country, the Citizenship Amendment Bill and National Register for Citizens, brought into focus by the saffron party, might seem like issues, but in Upper Assam it clearly isn’t. The Congress which has been vehemently opposing the Bill has not been able to move the masses and make an issue out of it on the ground.

Several tea-estate workers signalled an unwillingness to talk about both the issues. Even those who spoke about it simply said they are a part of the region’s history as they came from several neighbouring regions and states including Jharkhand when the British began these tea estates, confusing it with the National Register of Citizens.

This community, which lives in abject poverty, was promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that their daily wages would be revised to ₹350 per day. But it still remains ₹167 during the off season and ₹175 during the season which is from March 15 to October) for the workers in Upper Assam. It is even lower (₹145) for those working in tea estates in lower Assam.

Traditionally tea wages are largely paid in two components: cash and kind. The kind includes food stuff and fire wood.

“With such meagre wages, we cannot afford to send all our children to school. Our daughter stopped after Class X, but our sons go to college nearby,” said P Boro, a ward member from a tea estate. As is the norm, it is the girl, who bears the brunt of poverty.

Kajal, another girl working in one of the several tea estates in Dibrugarh, had to stop studying after Class IX.

For them issues remain free ration, roads, a raise in daily wages. “There is no Modi wave, but we see the work that the BJP is doing for the tea estate workers. We had no proper roads till a few months ago. But now there is. Earlier, we had to pay ₹3 for a kilo of rice from the ration shop, but now we get it for free. These are what matter to us,” said Ajit M, a tea estate casual worker.

After the Modi government had come to power in 2014, they had terminated the free ration to the tea estate workers, but the Tarun Gogoi government had gone to court against it and got the order suspended. But, that too seems to have been forgotten by the tea estate workers.

The tea community has traditionally stood with the Congress in every election except in 2014 and 2016 when they began moving towards the BJP. Of the five seats, four had been won by the BJP in 2014 — wresting three from the Congress and one from the AGP. The Congress’ Gaurav Gogoi had won one (Kaliabor).

There are several others who, when not surrounded by others, say they will vote for the Congress. “I do not like what the BJP government is doing in the state. They are polarising people. It will backfire soon,” stresses Vijay Gaurav, just outside one of the many tea estates lining the roads in Dibrugarh.

Dibrugarh used to be a seat for high-stakes battle, but it no longer seems so.