Congress's tea tribe support base set to erode in Barak
SILCHAR: The traditional base of Congress among the tea community in the Barak Valley is set to erode in the coming Lok Sabha election. The slide began in the last rural polls when the grand old party lost miserably to BJP almost in all the tea gardens in the valley. The party's trade union (Intuc) leaders are also apprehensive of its performance among the tea tribes.
Polling will be held on April 18 for Silchar and Karimganj constituencies along with three other segments in the second phase.
"The votes from the tea community can decide the fate of elections. There are 104 tea estates in the valley, which are known to be strong Congress base. The scene has started changing. This was evident from the last rural election," said Intuc-affiliated Barak Cha Shramik Union assistant general secretary Dinanath Baroi on Wednesday.
What has drawn the community towards the BJP could be the massive subsidy in ration that the state government has provided to them. "When Congress was in power, they would get rice for Rs 20 per kg, now they get the same for only Rs 3. The BJP government is giving a subsidy of Rs 17. They have also been getting sugar almost free of cost. If BJP promises to provide free oil, potato and other items if they are voted back to power, the community would believe them. The tea workers are only concerned about the present. They are not worried about the future," said the leader.
"The votes from the tea community can decide the fate of elections. There are 104 tea estates in the valley, which are known to be strong Congress base. The scene has started changing. This was evident from the last rural election," said Intuc-affiliated Barak Cha Shramik Union assistant general secretary Dinanath Baroi on Wednesday.
What has drawn the community towards the BJP could be the massive subsidy in ration that the state government has provided to them. "When Congress was in power, they would get rice for Rs 20 per kg, now they get the same for only Rs 3. The BJP government is giving a subsidy of Rs 17. They have also been getting sugar almost free of cost. If BJP promises to provide free oil, potato and other items if they are voted back to power, the community would believe them. The tea workers are only concerned about the present. They are not worried about the future," said the leader.
Baroi said there are 56 tea estates across the Silchar Lok Sabha constituency and the number is 49 in Karimganj-comprising Karimganj and Hailakandi districts. There are more than 1.5 lakh tea garden voters in each of the constituencies. They play a major role in deciding the fate of the party. The percentage of voting is very high among this community and they vote for one party. Baroi said this time also the polling percentage is expected to be 80% and it's a paid holidy in the gardens.
While the government in a notification had announced that the Barak Valley tea workers would get a sum of Rs 145 as daily wage, they are getting only Rs 130. On the other hand, the tea workers of the Brahmaputra Valley have been getting Rs 167 as daily wage. Baroi said both the former Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the tea workers should get a minimum wage of Rs 350 per day. But both could not implement it.
"We have launched a campaign seeking a wage revision in accordance with the government notification across all the gardens of the Barak Valley from March 7, which will continue till March 15. If the authorities fail to fulfil our demand, the workers will stop plucking leaves," said the union leader.
Next Story
READ ON APP