Dibrugarh, 01 April (H.S.):

Prime Minister Narendra Modi slicked through Assam on Wednesday, blending folksy photo‑ops at a tea estate with a hard‑hitting poll address at Gogamukh, where he accused the Congress of plotting to “protect infiltrators” and pledged a third‑term BJP government to implement the Uniform Civil Code and safeguard tribal rights in the state.

The day captured the twin edges of his campaign in the Northeast: earthy connect with the tea‑garden community and a sharp pitch on identity, security and “development versus danger” ahead of the April 9 Assembly polls.

Morning in Dibrugarh: Tea‑Cupping and a Selfie

Touching down in Dibrugarh late Tuesday, the Prime Minister began his day at the Manohari Tea Estate, where he plunged into the corduroy‑green rows of bushes, plucked tea leaves, and chatted with women workers on wages, land titles and life inside the historic “tea‑tribe” settlements.

Dressed in a light‑blue kurta and white‑on‑white shirt,PM Modi slipped off his shoes at one point to walk on the estate’s rough‑tarmacadam, underscoring his “man‑of‑the‑people” image in front of rolling news cameras.

The most viral moment came when he posed for a group selfie with clusters of women workers, their saris tucked neatly around shoulders glowing under the northeastern spring sun.

Afternoon Firebrand Speech at Gogamukh

By mid‑morning,PM Modi had moved to Gogamukh in the Dhemaji district, where thousands packed a dusty open ground adjacent to the Brahmaputra’s shifting banks for a BJP‑sponsored mass rally.

The Prime Minister took the stage against a backdrop of saffron‑coloured cloth and towering banners touting “India‑First, Assam‑First”, and launched into a 70‑minute oration that wove development claims, communal‑rhetoric warnings, and promise‑laden governance slogans.

Hitting the Congress directly, PM Modi alleged that if the party were voted to power in Assam, it would introduce a law to “protect infiltrators” and “shield illegal migrants”, a formulation BJP strategists have sharpened since the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the updated National Register of Citizens in the state.

“The Congress aims to turn the majority community into a minority and create a permanent vote bank of infiltrators,” he declared, lambasting Congress leaders for “openly saying” they would pass such legislation.

“Divide, Protect, Implement, Safeguard”

Invoking the Partition‑era Muslim League,PM Modi charged the Congress with “trying to divide the country” yet again, accusing it of “stabbing the Constitution” crafted by Babasaheb Ambedkar by allegedly undermining the rule of law on citizenship.

The reference landed squarely in a region where anxieties over identity, land, and demography have long been weaponised in electoral politics, particularly in Upper and Lower Assam where Bengali‑speaking Muslims and indigenous tribal communities often sit on opposite sides of the narrative divide.

In contrast, PM Modi promised that a re‑elected BJP government in Assam would “implement the Uniform Civil Code” and fortify protections for tribal communities under the Sixth Schedule, framing both as tools to “preserve Assam’s identity”.

The UCC plank, already a key promise in the BJP’s Assam‑“Sankalp Patra” manifesto, is pitched as a move toward “one nation, one law”, while the Sixth‑Schedule safeguard pledge is aimed at reassuring Santhal, Mising, Karbi and other scheduled tribes that the party’s Hindutva‑centric agenda will not override their constitutional‑protected rights.

Development, “Hattrick” and the “Self‑Proclaimed Prince”

PM Modi also spent substantial time touting what he called an “era of service and good governance” over the past decade, crediting state leadership under former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and incumbent Himanta Biswa Sarma for infrastructure advances, aviation connectivity, and visible growth in Guwahati ‑centric sectors.

He spoke of new roads, bridges and health‑and‑education schemes, and argued that Assam was now a building block for a “developed India”.

Swinging into sharply personalised rhetoric, the Prime Minister predicted a “hattrick” of BJP‑NDA victories in Assam, after wins in 2016 and 2021, even as he forecast what he called a “century of defeats” for Congress’s “self‑proclaimed prince”—a thinly veiled jibe at Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi.

The phrasing, echoing the “70‑year‑itch” and “one nation, one election” motifs of the 2026 elections, tied Assam’s local contest to the broader narrative of “Congress‑versus‑India” that the BJP has hammered across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar