Congress, TMC fight for second position in Silchar Lok Sabha constituency

Silchar: The Silchar Lok Sabha constituency, once rightly termed as one of the most prestigious seat in Assam, now seemed to lose all its past glory after the recent delimitation which had reserved the seat for the SC community. Silchar had been represented by political bigwigs like Moinul Haque, Nurul Huda, Sontosh Mohan Dev, Kabindra Purkayastha in the past and subsequently by successful politicians like Sushmita Dev and the outgoing MP Dr Rajdeep Roy. But delimitation had clearly erased all its past glory as the main stakeholders like the BJP and the Congress found it difficult to field a credible face from the SC community.

However, the  BJP had finally zeroed in on Parimal Suklabaidya, who represented the Barak Valley in the state cabinet for last eight years and a prominent figure in the state politics. The Congress finally picked up Surya Kanta Sarkar, usually known as close aide of Sushmita Dev and in spite of his long innings in the party, he could make a distinct identity of his own. A surprise twist was however added by the TMC as the Bengal based party had finally decided to contest in Silchar instead of Karimganj.

The TMC had fielded Radheshyam Biswas, former AIUDF MP from Karimganj. TMC in Silchar had till now no organisational base, considerable number of cadres. But even then the TMC, playing the Bengali sentiment card, a bankable issue after the delimitation and the CAA rules coupled with the NRC fiasco, seemed to pose a great threat to the Congress.

In this backdrop, it was almost clear that in Silchar, the fight would be triangular with the BJP in a much much comfortable position while the Congress and the TMC would be fighting for the second slot.

Apart from the Suklabaidya’s brighter profile and party’s appeal among the mass voters, the demography of Silchar constituency put the BJP in a much better pedestal. Out of 13,51,496 voters Hindus constitute 55 per cent. In the past, the 35 per cent Muslim votes used to be the deciding factors. But the delimitation had put a curtain on this making the Silchar seat a ground for triangular fight. Recent developments in the district indicated that a considerable Muslim votes might swing towards the TMC. Since the TMC had withdrawn its claim in Karimganj, the AIUDF seemed to reciprocate the gesture by helping Mamata Banerjee’s party in Silchar. A Muslim TMC candidate in Karimganj might have snatchd away a portion of the AIUDF votes. Now if a good percentage of Muslim votes in Silchar actually swing to the TMC, the Congress might come down to a poor third.  The grand old party seemed to be an unorganized unit since the beginning. While bigwigs of the saffron brigade like Amit Shah, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Sarbananda Sonowal participated in the road show and even Mamata Banerjee addressed a public rally, no prominent national leader of the Congress cared for Silchar seat. APCC president Bhupen Bora attended a few public meetings after skipping a number of pre announced assignments and on Tuesday Gaurav Gogoi led a Padayatra in Silchar. The absence of the prominent figures indicated the fate of the Congress in Silchar.

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