New Delhi: The Congress is trying hard to win back the support of the crucial Assam tea garden workers community, which constitutes 17 per cent of the state’s population and has influence in around 40 of the total 126 assembly seats.
The community, which suffers from backwardness, marked by poor housing conditions and lack of education and healthcare facilities, had traditionally supported the Congress but backed the BJP in the 2016 assembly polls.
“The workers were promised a lot within 100 days of BJP coming to power but nothing really happened. After five years, the community is unhappy with the BJP,” former union minister and five-term Dibrugarh MP Paban Singh Ghatowar said.
Ghatowar, who has worked with the tea garden workers for decades, said the community had been supporting the Congress since 1952 but around 60 per cent of them shifted to the BJP in 2016.
“But now they are coming back,” the Congress leader claimed.
The BJP-AGP government started a slew of welfare measures like free rice and sugar, cooking gas and financial incentives directly in back accounts to consolidate hold over the tea garden workers but the drive soon fizzled out, the Congress managers have charged.
Realizing the political significance of the tea garden workers community which votes together in a block, the Congress central leadership launched a targeted plan to win back the social group.
As part of the plan, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who launched the party’s poll campaign at a rally in Sivasagar on February 14, promised Rs 365 per day wages to the tea garden workers if his party was voted to power.
Senior party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited the tea garden workers, heard their grievances and charged the ruling combine of neglecting the community.
Read: Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh denies extortion allegations by IPS officer
Citing several women workers, Priyanka pointed out that though they had initially received some money in their bank accounts and got cooking gas, empty cylinders were now lying in their kitchens and high prices of petrol, diesel and gas had affected the community adversely.
In fact, Rs 365 per day as wages for the tea garden workers is one of the five guarantees Congress is giving to the voters in Assam.
Playing up on symbolism, Priyanka had put on the traditional gear and plucked tea leaves along with women workers at a garden while in his subsequent visit, Rahul shared a meal along with community members and reiterated his party’s commitment to improving their lot.
The Congress’ promise of Rs 365 per day wage originates from the fact that better remuneration has been an old demand of the tea garden workers which was never addressed adequately.
The BJP-AGP combine revised the per day wages from Rs 137 to Rs 167 in 2018 and again to Rs 217 last month but the workers are still not satisfied.
Both Rahul and Priyanka blamed the BJP for the poor condition of tea garden workers forcing the saffron party strategists to point out money doled out to the community over the past years.
Read: Anil Deshmukh assigned Vaze to extort Rs 100 Cr every month: Param Bir writes to Thackeray
PM Modi, who visited the state last month, linked the development of tea garden workers with that of Assam and charged that there was an international conspiracy to defame the Indian tea.
The PM also mentioned the union budget had allocated Rs 1,000 cr for the tea sector and assistance of Rs 3,000 was being given to tea garden workers in the north-eastern state besides mobile medicine vans to make up for the lack of facilities.
