By Dr. Gyan Pathak
The Congress announced five guarantees to Assam voters on Sunday March 29, and two days later on March 31, BJP has released its manifesto and gave 31 promises. A special feature of the BJP’s manifesto is its comparison of achievement of NDA and UPA rule in the state trying to outshine the Congress. The social and economic promises given by both are attractive and may catch the imagination of voters, who will cast their vote on April 9, 2026.
The first guarantee the congress gave was to transfer Rs 50000 to every woman’s bank account to start or grow business. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged, “The money that the BJP is today giving to women is conditional. They see that you are a BJP member. But after my government comes, we will not give any conditions. We will give it to all women.”
The second Congress guarantee is Rs25 lakh cashless health cover for families, as such cover was given in Congress led governments in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. The third Congress guarantee was delivering justice in the matter of death of singer Zubeen Garn within 100 days. The fourth guarantee was to increase old age pension from Rs250 to Rs1250 per month, and the fifth guarantee was to give permanent pattas (document) replacing 10 lakh annual land pattas to “Bhoomi Putras”.
Congress campaign seems to rest on criticising BJP leader and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Congress president Kharge said that he had snatched the CM’s seat from BJP CM Sarbananda Sonowal through deception. He tried to attract voters’ imagination by asking them, “Will you vote for such person? Will you vote for someone who deceives? Who lies? Who eats others’ money? Who steals land? Who helps the sand mafia. All the people in their house are drowning in corruption.” Congress leaders are campaigning but their campaigns seem to be weak in substance.
On the other hand, BJP has come out with a manifesto, and tried to corner the Congress on achievements. It gave comparison of the performances of the UPA government during 2006-2026 and NDA government during 2016-2026. The indicators included central assistance, GSDP, Central Tax Devolution, Per Capita Income, Poverty Rate, Road infrastructure, Bridges over Brahmaputra, Colleges and Universities both government and private, Medical Colleges, Cancer Institutes, Medical seats, Maternal Mortality Ratio, and Wildlife. The data it provided clearly outshines the Congress.
After giving the comparison, it gives details of its performance in the last 10 years of BJP led NDA rule. Congress will thus have to counter the development narrative of the government effectively, if it wants to push its own narrative of development in the state.
BJP does not rely only on the economic content it gave in the manifesto, but also have given 31 politically attractive promises. The first two promises are social promises that have been agitating the mind of the people of Assam for a long time.
“We will protect the land, heritage and dignity of the indigenous people of Assam, the first Sankalpa says, “By Implementing the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, to expedite the process of detection and pushback of illegal immigrants; Freeing every inch of land from encroachment by illegal immigrants; Providing land rights to all genuine citizens of Assam under Mission Basundhara; Freeing the remaining encroached lands of Satras, Namghars, Devalayas and other places of worship and cultural heritage and providing financial assistance under the Asom Darshan Scheme; Strengthening the Satra Aayog to free Satralands from encroachment and provide assistance for Satra restoration and preservation; Redeveloping the Sri Sri Madhupur Satra in line with the Batadrava Than Cultural Project (Srimanta Sankardeva Abirbhav Kshetra); and Redeveloping and restoring Talatal Ghar and freeing it from encroachment in line with the Rang Ghar Beautification Project.
The second socially and politically relevant promise it has made, “We will strengthen the legislative protections to preserve the civilisation, heritage and rights of the people of Assam by: Working towards the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), excluding the 6th Schedule areas and tribals, while ensuring the traditional rights of ethnic communities; Formulating an effective Act to end the menace of Love Jihad; and taking firm measures to tackle the menace of Land Jihad.”
The next 29 promises it gave were related to economy and development. I promised to invest ₹5 lakh crore to position Assam as India’s Eastern Gateway, backed by an Asom Gati Shakti Master Plan to ensure the timely completion of projects.
It has promised city development projects in collaboration with the Central government under with sustainable satellite townships, industrial cities, world class Aerocity and airport in Silchar.
BJP’s other important promises include creation of a flood-free Assam Mission with and investment of ₹18,000 crore+; creation of additional 2 lakh government jobs; financial assistance of upto ₹5 lakh to cover 10 lakh youth under the Chief Minister’s Atmanirbhar Asom Abhijan to support the creation of new entrepreneurial ventures; free ration; a university in every district; free education from KG to PG to poor; increase monthly assistance to women to Rs3000 per month and also financial assistance of Rs25,000 to existing beneficiaries for business; Rs 11,000 per year for farmers; inclusion of seven communities in OBC list; land pattas; and doubling the Assam’s economy by 2031 to $150 billion, and scale it to $300 billion by 2036. (IPA Service)
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