The Assam elections this year are rife with several speculations. Among the city hotspots, the East Guwahati constituency is one of the highly coveted ones where Siddhartha Bhattacharjee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in a face-off with the young Congress candidate Bobbeeta Sharma. The latter, say several observers and experts, has a more non-traditional track record, as far as political credentials go. Which is one of the reasons why, irrespective of her party affiliations, Sharma is seen as an empathetic, mature and creative resolve that the state could use.

India is used to film personalities and celebrities becoming political bigwigs. And although Sharma comes with a cultural capital of that order, her profile is more people-friendly and grassroots-oriented. Unlike many tinseltown-to-political-heat-and-dust stories, she offers her capabilities as a woman and a social worker in the service of her home state.

Sharma has been associated with the cultural world of Assam since she was introduced as a child artiste in the author and film-maker Bhabendra Nath Saikia’s National Award-winning film Anirban in 1978. Since then, she has acted in numerous films and television serials. She has also been a presenter and English newsreader for Doordarshan Kendra Guwahati (DDK) and Programme Production Centre (North East).

Commenting on the BJP’s thrust on Guwahati’s potential to become a “smart city”, Sharma says, “The BJP is a communal party controlled by Nagpur (where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters are located).” Bhattacharjee’s legal support to the alleged Saradha chit fund scam also paints a murky picture. According to Sharma, “the Hindu nationalist party is trying to impose a fundamentalist Hindutva agenda, which is alien to Assamese culture. Just as the AIDUF (The All India United Democratic Front, led by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal) is a communal party spreading Islamic fundamentalism.”

Apart from working as a history lecturer in Pandu College, Sharma has established her own production house and produced, directed and presented various programmes for DDK Guwahati. Her serial titled Bidexot Apun Manuh (Our Own People Abroad) on Assamese expats settled in countries such as the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Dubai, Netherlands and Germany, has received widespread appreciation, being one of the longest-running series on DDK Guwahati ( 2001-2009).

Addressing issues of secularism and democracy, Sharma points out that Assam is a region that facilitates the peaceful co-existence of people from different faiths and beliefs, where food habits, inter-cultural mingling, festivals, and so on have always been strikingly diverse, as opposed to other parts of India. “Assamese culture is characterised by the Sankariya culture of Srimanta Sankardeva (15-16th century), which is against the conservative character of Hinduism.” She refers to the progressive ancient Vaishnava culture that embraces people of all faiths and creeds in the state.

Sharma, as a young female candidate with no baggage of corruption or criminal charges, seems to be stirring up public interest. Her commitment towards cinema and the arts has got young voters taking note of her. Since 2005, serving as the honorary chairperson of Assam State Film Finance and Development Corporation Ltd, a Government of Assam undertaking, Sharma has authored a book, The Moving Image and Assamese Culture: Joymoti, Jyotiprasad Agarwala and Assamese Cinema , published by Oxford University Press. The book won an ‘Honorable Mention’ in the general non-fiction category at the 2014 London Book Festival. Regarding immigration, Sharma stresses that the Congress party has done its best by setting up tribunals to detect and deport foreigners and that the Tarun Gogoi government has increased border fencing.

“When the Assam Gana Parishad (AGP) was in power in Assam at the same time the BJP (NDA) was in power at the Centre, why didn’t they solve the issue then or take any steps?” she asks. It is only an election issue for them, she reiterates. “During the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014, Modi promised to oust all illegal migrants from Assam by May 16, 2014. What happened to that promise?”

Armed with a lawyer’s background, Siddhartha Bhattacharjee of the BJP will perhaps need to find a different language for a dynamic woman candidate the careworn Congress is pegging its hope on. Sanjoy Hazarika, professor at Jamia Milia Islamia, and director, Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, points out that it could be a tight race. “Bobbeeta Sharma is very smart, clear-headed and articulate, but pitted against an equally sharp and energetic figure.” Sharma says, “I have been in politics since the last 15 years. I was actively involved in politics when I was made a spokesperson in 2002. He (Bhattacharjee) has no administrative experience.”

Nabina Das is a poet and fiction writer currently living in Hyderabad and teaching creative writing at universities and workshops

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