Ignored Congressman to Assam's CM: Sarma’s time to rule

On the night of March 19, in a government guest house in Sadiya, a town in Assam’s Tinsukia district, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Assam, Jitendra Singh, were engaged in a strategic discussion over the party’s campaign for the ongoing assembly election in the state. Later that night, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was leading the BJP’s campaign, sat listening to the 30-minute-long conversation playing on a cell phone of one of his aides. A local Congress leader present at the guest house had secretly recorded the conversation. This incident reflects to what extent Sarma went to ensure a victory for the BJP, a party he joined after quitting the Congress in 2015. Rahul Gandhi had declined to make Sarma chief minister of Assam in place of the incumbent Tarun Gogoi at the time.

Six years after leaving the Congress, Sarma took oath as the 15th chief minister of Assam after delivering a second consecutive victory for the BJP in the state’s assembly poll. While a two-decade-long commitment to the Congress could not convince the party brass of his eligibility to helm the state, the BJP wised up to Sarma’s abilities within six years. More significantly, the BJP replaced the incumbent chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, even though the party returned to power based on the performance of his government. This unprecedented move demonstrates the importance of Sarma not only in the politics of Assam and the Northeast, but also in the larger game plan of the BJP and its ‘ideological fountainhead’, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The party realised that more than the Sonowal government’s performance, the driving force behind the BJP’s electoral victory was Sarma’s track record of almost 20 years as an efficient minister both in the Congress and BJP governments, along with his mastery at winning elections and in crisis management. As the health minister, he not only ramped up health infrastructure in the state by adding three new medical college hospitals—four more, including an AIIMS, are under construction—but also brought in several people-friendly measures, like making it mandatory for medical graduates to serve one year in rural areas for admission in PG courses. As education minister, Sarma introduced a transparent common written test in 2011 to recruit over 200,000 teachers.

But his superb management of the first wave of Covid last year gained him unparalleled popularity among the masses. He not only visited ICUs, crematoriums and quarantine centres across the state, but monitored every development and personally responded to every call for help through social media or over the phone. During the election campaign, people jostled to get a glimpse of Sarma, to touch him or take a selfie with him. And after a young girl wrote an emotional poem dedicated to him, in which she referred to him as “mama”, Sarma became the universal “mama” to Assam’s younger generation.

The shrewd political leader, though, understands that such popularity can be short-lived. “If I make a mistake tomorrow, people will forget the past,” says Sarma. However, his political network and the loyalty of his followers within the party are secure. He may have been in the BJP for just six years, but his grip on the party organisation and personal equation with the RSS, which was initially wary of his style of functioning, is unmatched. He came to the BJP with 10 Congress MLAs, but on May 9, 45 of the 60 BJP MLAs in the state backed him for chief minister in place of Sonowal. “It’s because he believes in winning friends. He helps even those who have plotted against him. And for his loyalists, he can go to any extent to protect them, even at the cost of his own career,” says Pijush Hazarika, a minister in Sarma’s cabinet and his most trusted lieutenant for two decades.

Sarma also entered the RSS’s good books by showing unwavering commitment to its ideology. From being the most vocal supporter of the RSS-backed CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), which provoked massive popular protest from Assamese citizens, to shutting down government-sponsored madrassas and taking a public stand against Miya poetry (written in a dialect spoken by immigrant Muslims), he did everything to impress the RSS brass. “He doesn’t take a personal stand. Whatever is the party position, Sarma remains committed to taking it to its logical conclusion. Besides, he is always accessible to every member and cadre of the BJP and RSS, even at odd hours,” says RSS leader Ram Madhav, who was instrumental in bringing Sarma to the BJP. Few are aware of the Sarma family’s long-time association with the RSS. As a teenager, he regularly visited RSS shakhas, while his elder brother’s education was supported by them. Unsurprisingly, right after taking oath as chief minister, Sarma visited the RSS office in Guwahati and held a meeting with the senior RSS leaders in the state.

Sarma also enjoys a large following among the non-political and non-aligned, particularly those who were influenced by him during his three terms as general secretary of the students’ union of Cotton College, Assam’s most prestigious educational institution and the alma mater of seven earlier chief ministers. These former students, who are influencers in their respective professional arenas, have an emotional attachment to their “dada” .

Besides Assam, Sarma’s personal relationships across party lines have been instrumental in the BJP’s expansion in the Northeast. From engineering Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu’s defection to the BJP and running the campaign in Manipur and Tripura, to stitching winning alliances in Meghalaya and Nagaland, Sarma helped the party grab power in a region where the demography was not organically suited to its Hindutva politics. Nationalist People’s Party chief and Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma openly acknowledges Sarma’s role in his own political journey. “He is an elder brother to me and has guided me politically and personally. His ability to understand a complex situation and then always find a solution amazes me,” says Sangma.

What has also worked in Sarma’s favour is the party’s debacle in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, which simultaneously went to polls. He shone in contrast. Also, the public outrage against the Modi government’s failure to anticipate the Covid second wave and its harrowing ongoing consequences made the BJP leadership wary of any turmoil within. More importantly, even the Congress had sent out feelers saying it was ready to make Sarma chief minister if he defected from the BJP with the required number of MLAs. “He is a political animal. Only power matters to him. I think the BJP realised this when they dumped Sonowal,” says Digvijaya Singh, one of Sarma’s mentors in the Congress.

Sarma’s anointment on May 10 has been the culmination of a four-decade-long political journey that he began in the 1980s as something of a ‘boy wonder’, taking active part in the Assam agitation against illegal infiltrators. As a teenager, he learnt his first political lessons by shadowing Prafulla Mahanta and Bhrigu Phukan, two towering AASU leaders who later went on to become chief minister and home minister, respectively. In 1994, he joined the Congress and made his mark as an able administrator and electoral strategist under the patronage of two chief ministers—Hiteswar Saikia and Tarun Gogoi.

Now, as chief minister, Sarma doesn’t want to leave any room for dissent. Three Sonowal loyalists have found place in his cabinet. In contrast, just one of the 10 MLAs who had switched with him from the Congress to BJP has been given a ministry. He is also making symbolic statements—he visited Sonowal with all his cabinet members on May 12 and appointed a woman finance minister.

With the state in the grip of a raging pandemic, Sarma doesn’t have the luxury of a honeymoon period. His immediate priority is to save lives. However, his long-term priority seems to be to bring in a permanent solution to Assam’s perennial flood problem. That’s why the ministry of water resources has gone to his man Friday, Pijush Hazarika. Sarma also has to pay attention to the financial crunch the state faces and the party’s electoral promises—like waiving the Rs 12,000 microfinance loans taken by poor women in self-help groups and providing 100,000 government jobs by 2022. Sarma has already formed cabinet committees to implement these promises. “To those worried about the treasury, let me say we are in sound fiscal health,” Sarma says with his usual nonchalance.

Such bravado, however, has landed him in trouble on occasion. For instance, while campaigning, he declared that there was no need for masks because there was no corona in the state. It was meant to assure prospective voters that there would be no restrictive measures during Bihu celebrations following the election. It may have earned him political dividends, but the statement, coming from a health minister, was highly irresponsible and went viral on social media. “I admit Ma Saraswati takes leave of me at times,” says Sarma.

Such slips may prove costly for the new chief minister. Given his performance record, people’s expectations from him are high. There will be little margin for error.

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Published at Fri, 14 May 2021 11:04:52 +0000

Health worker vaccinates 6,000 people in Jammu and Kashmir`s Pulwama

New Delhi: A health worker alone has vaccinated almost six thousand people in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. There is a health worker in the district hospital of Pulwama, who has taken responsibility for getting everyone vaccinated in his area. Since the commencement of the vaccination campaign, she has till now alone vaccinated almost 6000 people of area and achieved the 100 per cent target. 

30-year-old Tabasum Ara is posted as ‘Immunization Officer’ at district Hospital in Pulwama has taken oath to get everyone vaccinated so that they can get the protection from this deadly coronavirus. When the vaccination drive started after the first wave of coronavirus, Tabassum hold the forte in his area. 

In the last five months, Tabassum has done coronavirus vaccine to more than 6,000 people in Pulwama district alone, since January 16, 2021, when coronavirus vaccination program has started in the country, she has been continuously performing her duty. Tabassum hasn’t missed a single since day of office since January.

Tabassum Ara, a resident of Pair village in Pulwama, about 3 km away from the main city, comes to Hospital by foot amid lockdown every day and vaccinates more than 300 people daily. Not only she do vaccine but also inspires dozens of people to take the vaccine. During the initial phase, everyone was hesitating but she has inspired hundreds of healthcare workers and front line workers, along with the general public, to get vaccinated.

Tabassum Ara says, “First our health workers and front line workers got vaccinated. I made them understand the benefits of vaccine and we achieved 100 target of them,  then there was some difficulty in the common people, in this we had to do a lot of hectic job there were many bad rumours and people were scared. But we made them aware of it and people started coming to vaccination Center.”

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Mamata Banerjee's rainbow cabinet

One of the dominant themes of Mamata Banerjee’s assembly election campaign was the idea of an inclusive West Bengal that had something to offer to all its citizens, cutting across religion, caste, gender and social status. Public endorsement of it came as her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), won the election with a handsome 213 of the total 294 seats. ‘Inclusive Bengal’ now finds reflection in Mamata’s 43-member cabinet that took the oath of office on May 10. The team consists of nine women, seven Muslims, eight SC/ST MLAs and professionals from diverse fields—an actor, a cricketer, a theatre personality, a singer and two doctors. In all, there are 15 new faces.

Of the eight SC/ST ministers, four are from Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and West Midnapore districts. In the 2019 general election, these areas had voted in favour of the BJP, which won five of the six Lok Sabha seats in these four districts. In terms of legislative assembly strength, this should have meant 32 seats for the saffron party. In this election, the TMC breached the BJP turf, winning 26 of the 40 seats in these districts. The BJP’s attempts at Hindu consolidation did not pay off. Tribal voters felt the BJP’s aggressive Hindutva campaign threatened to overrun their own sacred altars of worship. Adivasi boys—with saffron uttariya around their necks and red tilak on foreheads— campaigning for the BJP did not go down well with the tribal people.

Tribal identity

Recognising the contribution of STs, especially adivasi women, in her victory, Mamata has given cabinet berths to three ‘daughters of the soil’ from the remote villages of Jhargram, Bankura and Purulia—Santhali film star and Jhargram MLA Birbaha Hansda, Jyotsna Mandi and Sandhya Rani Tudu.

Hansda has been appointed junior minister of forests. This seems an appropriate assignment as she represents the tribal people of Jangalmahal who depend heavily on forest land and produce for their daily needs. Hansda is the daughter of tribal politicians Naren Hansda and Chunibala Hansda. The Santhali panchi sari she wore for the oath-taking ceremony at Raj Bhawan was an assertion of her tribal identity, culture and customs.

Jyotsna Mandi, who represents the Ranibandh seat in Bankura district and has been appointed junior minister for food and supplies, elaborated on why she thinks women voters had braved the summer heat and the pandemic to queue up at polling booths and vote for the TMC. “The women in our area say they are indebted [to Mamata] for ensuring that their families are well fed and looked after. They talk of the [free] ration, bicycles for their [schoolgoing] daughters and the [election] promise of a monthly stipend(Rs 500-1,000) for women,” said Mandi. Topping her priorities are containing the spread of Covid in her constituency and ramping up the Khatra sub-divisional hospital so that patients do not have to travel to the Bankura district hospital some 50 km away.

Minority report

In her post-victory speeches, Mamata has repeatedly thanked Bengal’s women as well as Muslims for re-electing her. Among the key Muslim faces in the cabinet is Siddiqullah Chowdhury, who retains the mass education extension and library services portfolio. Chowdhury says Mamata has kept her word on seven cabinet berths for Muslims.

Sabina Yeasmin, who had defected to the TMC from the Congress in 2018, has been made minister of state (MoS) for irrigation & waterways and North Bengal development. It is seen as a recognition of her efforts to help the TMC bag eight of the 12 seats in Malda, once a bastion of the Congress and its heavyweight A.B.A Ghani Khan Choudhury.

Former IPS officer Humayun Kabir, who defeated another former IPS officer, Bharati Ghosh of the BJP, has been made MoS (independent charge) for technical education, training and skill development.

Two ministers have been picked from the erstwhile Congress stronghold of Murshidabad, where the TMC bagged 18 of 20 seats. For the first time, Mamata has appointed a full-time minister, Md Ghulam Rabbani, for minority affairs and madrassa education. In her previous term, Didi handled this portfolio herself, assisted by a junior minister.

North Bengal, comprising North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Malda districts, is represented in the cabinet by as many as five ministers. The aim is to give a tough competition to the seven BJP MPs in this region. In 2019, the TMC drew a blank in the eight Lok Sabha seats of North Bengal, which cover some 54 assembly seats. This time, the party has made some headway, winning 16 assembly seats. The remaining 38 went to the BJP.

One of the reasons behind the BJP’s waning popularity in North Bengal may be the public perception that the party’s MPs have a lackadaisical attitude. That Nisith Pramanik, the BJP’s Coochbehar MP who was made to contest the assembly election from Dinhata, won the seat by a margin of just 50-odd votes shows the scale of public dissatisfaction. BJP MPs Locket Chatterjee, Swapan Dasgupta and Babul Supriyo also got a drubbing.

Old and new

While Mamata has picked 15 new faces in her cabinet, she continues to rely heavily on TMC veterans to handle most of the key portfolios. Former finance minister Amit Mitra, who did not contest the assembly election due to ill health, has been brought back to handle the state’s finances—a key responsibility in these times of the pandemic. Mitra, though, has been relieved of the commerce and industry department, which he held in the first two terms along with finance.

The likes of Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Shashi Panja and Chandrima Bhattacharya have been allotted key portfolios. Chatterjee, who was education minister in the previous term, has been given charge of industry, commerce and enterprise; IT and electronics; and parliamentary affairs. Mukherjee continues to hold the panchayat and rural development portfolio along with the additional charge of public enterprises and industrial reconstruction. Hakim is the minister for transport and housing while Bhattacharya will handle urban development and municipal affairs. Panja retains women and child development and social welfare.

Allegations of corruption have prompted some pruning as well. The foods and supplies portfolio was taken away from Jyotipriyo Mullick over alleged corruption in food distribution during the previous term. The public works department, earlier with Arup Biswas, has gone to Moloy Ghatak. Insiders say Mamata was annoyed with Biswas over reports of deep-seated corruption in the department. Manturam Pakhira lost the Sundarbans affairs department to Mamata loyalist Bankim Hazra, who belongs to Sagar Island, the southernmost tip of Bengal. The reason for this shuffle is allegations of nepotism in Cyclone Amphan relief.

Some portfolio allocations have raised eyebrows, such as that of TMC veteran Sovondeb Chattopadhyay and controversial leader Becharam Manna. Chattopadhyay, known for his big footprint in trade union politics, has been given charge of agriculture while Manna, a farmer turned politician, has got the labour department.

Mamata has made it clear that ministers will need to vet all major decisions taken by their departments. Two committees have been formed—a core committee on industries with Mamata as the head and another under the chief secretary to take policy decisions and review development work. Didi appears more eager than ever to ensure a new chapter in Bengal’s development.

Some of the prominent new faces in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet

Birbaha Hansda (Santhali film star)- MoS for forests

“I will go door to door, as promised, and cover all 334 booths in my constituency within a year”

Humayun Kabir (Former IPS officer) – MoS (independent charge) for technical education, training and skill development

“As a minister, I shall remain responsible and duty-bound. Law and order was my forte, but this (technical education) could pose new challenges.”

Jyotsna Mandi (MLA from Ranibandh) – MoS for food and supplies

“Women voted for a woman who empowered them. They queued up since early morning, without doing cooking or household chores, to vote for Mamata Banerjee.”

Manoj Tiwary (Cricketer-turned-politician) – MoS for sports and youth affairs

“I am a huge fan of Didi and know her as a warm person since my KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) days.”

Sabina Yeasmin (MLA from Motabhari) MoS for irrigation & waterways

“In a Congress stronghold, people accepted me and my party, rewriting Malda’s political script.”

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Published at Fri, 14 May 2021 11:43:37 +0000