UDALGURI (ASSAM)
The United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) seeks to “reclaim” a reserved Lok Sabha constituency associated with Bodo pride but the test of its popularity real test of its popularity could come from a nearby seat, where ally Bharatiya Janata Party is counting on the UPPL’s vote bank to emerge victorious.
The UPPL rules the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in alliance with the BJP and the Gana Suraksha Party (GSP). The council administers the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) comprising five districts – Baksa, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Tamulpur, and Udalguri.
The council and the region are named after the Bodos, the largest plains tribe in the northeast but constituting less than 40% of the population across the BTR. The remaining 60% is made up of some 20 ethnic groups, including non-Bodo tribes and Muslims.
The Scheduled Tribe-reserved Kokrajhar constituency elected a Bodo representive from 1957 to 2009 until Naba Kumar Sarania, a former member of the extremist United Liberation Front of Asom, rode the support of the non-Bodos to win the seat in 2014 and 2019 as an Independent.
Mr. Sarania, who heads the GSP, hopes to retain Kokrajhar but the UPPL believes it can stop him because of “permanent peace” and mending of ties among various ethnic groups over the past few years.
“Violence and bloodshed ruled the BTR until the BJP-led government in Assam and our coalition government in the council ensured permanent peace through a historic peace accord (2020). The people know the UPPL is not partisan and addresses the issues of everyone without any prejudice,” UPPL president and BTC chief Pramod Boro told The Hindu.
Kokrajhar, encompassing 11 Assembly segments, is entirely in the BTR. The UPPL has nominated party MLA Joyanta Basumatary from this constituency and is supporting the BJP’s Dilip Saikia in the adjoining Darrang-Udalguri seat.
Formerly Mangaldoi, where alleged manipulation of the electoral rolls to enlist “Bangladeshis” led to the six-year Assam Agitation in 1979, Darrang-Udalguri is partly in the BTR and covers six Assembly seats.
The challenge for the UPPL is to ensure its votes are transferred to the BJP when Darrang-Udalguri votes in the second phase on April 26. “Of the 16 seats in the council, 15 belong to us because people of all communities trust the UPPL,” Mr. Boro said.
Although Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hoped the “equal attention” to all communities would make the Muslims gravitate toward the BJP, the UPPL’s support base is seen as crucial to absorb the possible impact of the minorities opting for non-BJP candidates in Darrang-Udalguri, primarily Congress.
Muslims constitute more than 30% of the voters in Darrang-Udalguri, the bulk of them inhabiting the part of the constituency beyond the BTR.
