BJP passes post-CAA election test in Assam, Congress runs short

The violent protests against the CAA that spilled on to the streets of Assam in December 2019 had pushed BJP to the backfoot with the opposition parties trying their best to project the saffron party as a threat to the Assamese identity.

But political observers in Assam feel that the infiltrators-versus-refugee narratives and the development works that BJP constantly pushed since then seems to have prevented the anti-CAA sentiments from translating into votes against them.

Read | Sonowal or Sarma? Who will become next Assam CM?

The BJP-led alliance was leading in 75 of 126 seats heading it to power for the second consecutive term.

Congress-led grand alliance of seven parties, including Badruddin Ajmal's AIUDF, was leading in 50 seats.

Akhil Gogoi of Raijor Dol, an anti-CAA party, won his maiden electoral battle. But Assam Jatiya Parishad, another anti-CAA party, contested in 82 seats but won none.

So what led to BJP's victory despite the strong anti-CAA agitation?

"BJP's campaign that the Congress- AIUDF alliance is detrimental to the interest of the state struck the chord with Assamese and other ethnic communities. The BJP succeeded in pushing its infiltrator-versus-refugee narrative by projecting Congress and AIUDF as protector of infiltrators," political commentator Sushanta Talukdar told DH.

He said that majority of Assamese and other ethnic voters were swayed by BJP's narrative that the Muslim migrants with roots in erstwhile East Pakistan or present Bangladesh are infiltrators while the Hindu migrants from the same territory are refugees.

President of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee Ripun Bora admitted the defeat but alleged that money power and polarisation tactics of BJP led to the opposition alliance's failure to wrest power.

Harekrishna Deka, a Sahitya Akademi awardee and former director general of police said BJP's campaigning reached the grassroots more effectively with a well-planned design to underplay CAA. "Their strategy to target the rural households with cash incentives directly credited to the targetted lower income groups clicked. Secondly, they could systematically erode the Congress vote banks in the tea community adopting the same strategy of direct cash benefit through various schemes," he said. Deka is part of the anti-CAA movement in Assam.