E-Paper
Saint’s birthplace gains spotlight in Assam polls
As the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardev, the 15th-16th century saint-scholar and socio-religious reformer, Batadroba is revered by many in Assam.
Even as devotees continue to visit Batadroba Than in Assam’s Nagaon every day, there is a palpable undercurrent of politics, especially with the state in poll mode and the protection of Assamese “sanskriti” (culture) constituting one of the main themes of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party in power.
As the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardev, the 15th-16th century saint-scholar and socio-religious reformer, Batadroba is revered by many in Assam. The “than” (a neo-Vaishnavite residential religious institution later called “satra”) is in focus as parties try to woo voters with a call to protect socio-religious-cultural identity of indigenous Assamese.
Sankardev’s birthplace and polls
On February 25, a day ahead of announcement of poll schedule for Assam and four other states, Union home minister Amit Shah visited Batadroba and launched a beautification project worth around ₹180 crores. “This is the place from where Srimanta Sankardev started the ‘bhakti-sanskriti’ (religious-cultural) movement in Assam... The project will keep Sankardev’s message alive...,” Shah said at a rally. The Assam government has also launched a scheme to provide ₹2.5 lakh each to around 8,000 naamghars (neo-Vaishnavite prayer halls) in the state. Shah, however, urged the state to cover 25,000 “naamghars” so that Sankardev’s ideals with remain alive for years.
The BJP is not alone. The Congress, which is attempting to uproot the BJP-led coalition with a seven party alliance that includes All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and former BJP ally Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF), also reached Than on February 13 to launch their “Axom Basaon Ahok” (Come, Let’s Save Assam) yatra for the polls.
All senior leaders of the party, including state unit chief Ripun Bora, Lok Sabha MPs Pradyut Bordoloi and Gaurav Gogoi as well as former minister Rakibul Hussain, offered prayers at the “Than” before embarking on the yatra in which they interacted with voters and announced their five guarantees — non-implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act in Assam, ₹2,000 per month to housewives, free 200 units of electricity to all households, creation of 500,000 government jobs and increase in daily wage of tea garden workers to ₹365. While Congress is accusing BJP of threatening Assam’s language and culture by “welcoming” illegal immigrants through CAA, the BJP is accusing the former of allying with Lok Sabha MP Badruddin Ajmal’s “communal”AIUDF.
Encroachment and more
As political parties flock to Batadroba to talk of culture and identity with an eye on votes, the site itself is facing its own issues. Spread across 374 bighas (around 124 acres), it has seen encroachment of its area in the past three decades. “Around 136 big has (45 acres) of our land, which was earlier used for cultivation, started getting encroached around 1986-87. Despite several requests to the Congress governments of Tarun Gogoi between 2001 and 2016, nothing much was done. Towards the end of their tenure, they agreed to rehabilitate the encroachers in some other government land. While seven left, five families stayed back,” said Devananda Deva Goswami, the religious and administrative head of Batadroba Than.
“When the BJP-led government came in 2016, they removed remaining encroachers. But while the land of the ‘Than’ is free of encroachment, there is rampant grabbing of nearly 900 bighas (297 acres) of government land in our periphery. People are being settled in these places, by unscrupulous government officials. We are confused what government means when it says Batadroba is encroachment free. If encroachment of government land is allowed, we would also do that.”
The Batadroba management committee wants the government to remove those encroachers and use that land to develop facilities for tourists and devotees. “We feel in order to protect our identity and culture we need such candidates and parties which are able to take bold decisions. As residents of Assam, in coming years we should be able to confidently assert our identity without fear of anyone,” said Goswami.
Batadroba has been a Congress stronghold for long, but in 2016 BJP’s Angoorlata Deka, an Assamese actress, defeated MLA Gautam Bora by a margin or nearly 6,000 votes. This time, too, the BJP gave the ticket to Deka and she will be facing Congress’s Sibamoni Bora.
“All political parties have come to Batadroba to seek blessings before the start of their campaigns... But Deka, who has managed to reach out and endear herself to voters and done a lot for the Than could secure another win,” said Jiban Baruah, a local resident. Assam goes to polls in three phases starting March 27. Polling for Batadroba will take place in the first phase.
