Why retd IAS officer from AP fighting Assam LS polls has BJP worried

After its campaign against Muslim-only immigrants from Bangladesh, former bureaucrat MGVK Bhanu is the new “outsider” in Assam that the BJP wants to get rid of.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has sharpened its attack against Congress candidate Bhanu, a native of Navabupalem in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, with jibes like “salani maas” (imported fish).

The BJP has gone to town claiming that one who “doesn’t even speak Assamese” can’t represent Assam.

Bhanu, who retired last year, joined the Congress in February this year. The 1985-batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Bhanu had served four Congress governments in his more than 30 years stint in the state. He is contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Tezpur constituency, a district where he once served as a deputy commissioner. The former top bureaucrat is credited with a lot of development work in the Sonitpur district. Many residents of Tezpur still recall how he gave a face-lift to the town and helped beautify it during his stint in the district.

But if the BJP candidate Pallab Lochan Das is to be believed, Bhanu does not represent the people of the state as he is from Andhra Pradesh. “The candidate who represents Assam in the Parliament must stand for the ethos, sentiments and aspirations of the people of the state. He (Bhanu) is an outsider, a ”salani maas” from Andhra Pradesh,” Das was quoted as saying by the PTI.

Das, who at present is serving as the state labour and tea tribes welfare minister, was named the candidate for Tezpur after BJP president Amit Shah “requested” Himanta Biswa Sarma not to contest the elections. BJP functionaries from Assam had mooted Sarma’s name for the Tezpur seat. But the central leadership requested him to concentrate on his responsibilities as NEDA convenor. Notably, the seat is currently held by Ram Prasad Sharma, who recently quit the BJP, alleging “neglect by new intruders”.

Das now says Bhanu until his retirement as the additional chief secretary, served under him and addressed him as “sir”. “I was probably not born when he was serving as an IAS officer in Assam. But until his retirement as the additional chief secretary, Bhanu served under me and called me sir,” Das has been openly declaring in his poll campaigns.

To prove his Assamese-ness, Bhanu recently found himself reciting verses of 15th century Assamese saint-scholar Srimanta Sankardeva’s composition ‘Gunamala’. “I have been serving Assam since 1985. I don’t need Das’s approval. People of Assam can decide for themselves,” Bhanu told media persons while reacting to the BJP’s ‘outsider’ charge against him.

In a forgiving tone, he said, “The minister is a young man. I guess he was not born when I became an IAS officer and came to serve in Assam. I forgive him since he doesn’t know of my work and contributions here.”

But it is former Congressman and now BJP’s Northeast face, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who seems to be most irked by Bhanu’s entry into politics. When media persons asked Sarma about the former bureaucrat’s chances of winning the polls, Sarma said, “I need to ‘memorise’ his name first only then ask me a question. I don’t even know his name.”

Interestingly, Sarma during his Congress days was often seen sitting at Bhanu office for hours. Bhanu, who also served as a former chairman of the Tea Board of India, is known for his proximity to former three-time CM Tarun Gogoi. According to a senior journalist who covered the Congress after it came to power in the state in 2001, it was Bhanu who played a major role in making Himanta Biswa Sarma a part of Gogoi’s coterie. Sarma went on to become Gogoi’s right-hand man, until 2015 when he joined the BJP following a major fallout with the former CM. Sarma was miffed with the Congress for giving Lok Sabha ticket to Gogoi’s son Gaurav.

Polling in Tezpur, constituting eight Assembly segments, is scheduled for April 11. Assam is set to go for three-phase polling in the Lok Sabha elections – on April 11, 18 and 23.