Rakibul’s citadel faces BJP hurdle

Samaguri (Nagaon): The imposing Rockland Amusement Park stands out in Congress minister Rakibul Hussain's home turf Samaguri, the assembly seat he has represented since 2001. As do the state-of-the-art digital auditorium, an international-standard hockey stadium, a food-craft institute and many other development projects that dominate the landscape on both sides of the stretch of NH-37 that passes through Samaguri.
Hussain, one of the most prominent Muslim ministers in chief minister Tarun Gogoi's cabinet, has, over the years, ensured that Samaguri becomes a Congress citadel.Even former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who contested from Samaguri in the 2011 assembly polls, was routed by Hussain. In fact, Hussain's vote-share has shown an increase from 48.91% in 2006 to 57.12% in 2011.
Among 1,41,483 voters, Muslims account for 80%, followed by Hindu-Assamese, Hindu-Bengalis, adivasis, Bodos and a small number of Hindi-speaking and Nepali communities. While Muslims largely vote for Congress here, non-Muslim votes get divided between Congress and other parties.
This time, however, BJP has set its eyes on Samaguri and tried to make its presence felt in Hussain's home turf. Whether the saffron party will be successful or not will be revealed later, but BJP has left no stone unturned to woo voters, especially Muslims, here.
Though businessman Jitu Goswami is BJP's candidate here, people like Ramzan Ali, 56, are the face of the saffron party in this minority-dominated constituency.
"There's a positive outlook among Muslims towards BJP this time. Congress always tries to create a fear psychosis against BJP among Muslims. This is not true at all. I enjoy a very good relationship with RSS workers in the constituency," Ali said.
Bajiagoan, a Muslim-populated village here, seems to vindicate Ali's claims. Many of the Muslim houses in the village don BJP's lotus symbol, posters of Narendra Modi and other saffron party leaders. These Muslims were earlier AGP supporters. After BJP and AGP entered into a poll pact, they have switched their allegiance to the saffron party.
"The Congress government has never done anything for our welfare. So, our people have decided to vote for BJP this election," said Md Sirajuddin, manning a BJP election office in Bajiagaon, while other men and women of the minority community nodded in agreement.
Samaguri's senior Congress leader Kumud Barkakoty said a small number of Muslims, who have moved to BJP, would not pose any threat to Hussain's prospects. "A large section of the electorate from Muslim and other communities are with Congress," Barkakoty said.
Samaguri-based political analyst Bibekananda Saikia said the constituency has about 40,000 votes which normally go to non-Congress parties. "Those Muslims, who are now with BJP, actually comprise the vote share of non-Congress parties," Saikia added.