Delimitation, eviction drive recast poll battle in Nagaon-Batadraba

Guwahati: The 2023 delimitation exercise and BJP govt’s eviction drive to reclaim 160 bighas of land belonging to Batadraba Than have sharply altered the political equation in Assam’s newly created Nagaon–Batadraba constituency.


Batadraba Than is revered as the birthplace of 15th-century Vaishnavite saint and social reformer Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev. The constituency has also long been shaped by the presence of Bangladesh-origin migrant Muslims, whose growing numbers had made the erstwhile Batadraba seat minority-dominated for decades.


Before the 2023 delimitation, Batadraba had seen a steady demographic shift, with Bangladesh-origin migrant Muslims accounting for more than 30% of voters in 1977-78, when the constituency was created, and rising to over 50% by the 2021 elections.


Surajit Bhagowati, an educationist and social worker who tracks the constituency’s demographic changes, said the redrawing of boundaries transformed the electoral balance. “That way, the Nagaon Batadraba constituency has become Hindu majority now,” he said.


Bhagowati said the creation of Nagaon-Batadraba by dissolving the old Batadraba constituency pushed a large section of minority voters into neighbouring minority-majority seats such as Dhing and Samaguri.


At Batadraba Than, local religious functionary Ranjeet Mahanta (65) said the delimitation process, eviction of encroachers from than land and the Rs 200 crore Batadrava Than Redevelopment project have strengthened efforts to protect the shrine and Assamese identity. He said the measures had helped safeguard Sankardev’s birthplace as well as “the Assamese community’s cultural identity and ancestral lands.”


A resident living near Batadraba Than, Gitashri Kalita, said her family had witnessed both the demographic changes in the constituency and the gradual encroachment on than land and grazing reserves over generations.


She said her family’s roots in the area go back more than 500 years. She added that the British initially settled a group of migrant Muslims from present-day Bangladesh to Batadrava for jhum cultivation.


A local said more migrant Muslims from Bangladesh came and settled here over the years, resulting in a sharp rise in their population.


Kalita said the anti-foreigner movement in Assam marked a turning point. “They gradually focussed on education and other sectors and emphasised on increasing their population,” she added.


However, Congress candidate Durlav Chamua accused BJP of using delimitation primarily for electoral gains. He said the dissolution of the old Batadraba constituency and creation of Nagaon-Batadraba were aimed at consolidating Hindu votes, while protection of Batadraba Than and promotion of Sankardev’s legacy were secondary concerns.