For BJP, Assam is as important as West Bengal. The saffron party can't afford to lose this major northeastern state — which it won on its own in 2016 polls for the first time. It was this victory which helped the BJP to expand its foothold in the northeastern region — which otherwise always had been known as the strong bastion of the Congress party. For any political party that aspires to have a strong voice in the region, remaining in power in Assam is very significant and BJP is aware of this.

But, currently the political atmosphere in the state doesn't seem to be in favour of BJP. The majority Assamese community is against CAA. However, the reason of their opposition is in contrast with the opposition of the Indian Left Liberals — who are vigorously protesting due to exclusion of Muslim immigrants from the act. In case of Assamese, they are agitating to keep the state out of the ambit of CAA — they are opposed to both Hindu and Muslim immigrants of Bangladesh.

The agitations have already claimed 5 lives as a result of initial violent protests followed by police firing . Although, the later protests have mostly been peaceful unlike the other parts of India. All Assam Students' Union (AASU), which has a strong support across the state, has been in the forefront of the protests who fear that this act will only help in making their worst nightmare of Assam turning into a Bengali majority state a reality.

No doubt, the ongoing CAA agitations have put the ruling BJP at backfoot. These protests, as of now, have been successful in portraying the saffron party against the interests of the majority Assamese community. The BJP can't imagine to return to power in the state without the support of the majority community. To resurrect its image, already the party is trying to convey to the Assamese that the Narendra Modi government has formed a committee for the first time to find out a way to implement the Clause XI of the Assam Accord of 1985. The clause aims to protect the interests of the indigenous community of the state. However, the committee hasn't yet submitted its report to the centre. Adding to BJP's concerns, this claim hasn't yet been able to assuage the anxieties of the influential Assamese organisations like AASU or even large section of Assamese communities.

Infact, BJP is conscious about the negative effects of the continuing protests led by Assamese organisations that may put the party in trouble in the assembly elections of next year. Already, all these protests have provided the required ammunition to the main opposition Congress party and the saffron party has reasons to worry. Although, last year in the Lok Sabha elections, BJP did stunning performance by winning 9 seats out of 14 while Congress garnering only 3 just like 2014 polls. However, in terms of vote share, the grand old party show a hike of 5% votes. This is due to the consolidation of Muslims, who account for 34% in the state, towards the Congress party by deserting the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) of Badruddin Ajmal, a party primarily formed to protect the interests of Muslims. This didn't happen suddenly. Muslims deserting the pro-Muslim AIUDF was first witnessed in 2018's state local body polls. Undoubtedly, in the present scenario, Muslims would consolidate more towards the Congress, which may also be successful to get the votes of the Assamese community due to the CAA anger. This will only harm BJP more.

Obviously, there is a consolidation of Bengali Hindus, who account for around 9%, towards BJP — but the party knows that this is not enough to bring it back to power. In pressure to win back the indigenous community, the Sarbananda Sonowal led BJP government has decided to give patta to 40,000 landless indigenous community. This is a very crucial step at this juncture from the government. Besides, the government has decided to grant 2 lakh annually to 160 satras (Vaishnavite monasteries) in addition to the regular annuity they recieve. The Vaishnavite monasteries founded by Sankardev, Assam's own proponent of the Bhakti movement, continue to play a significant role in Assamese culture.

Apart from this, the BJP is focussing to take its message to the grassroot levels of the state. Recently, the party organised one of its biggest booth level meeting in Guwahati attended by its national working president JP Nadda, North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor Himanta Bishwa Sarma, general secretary Ram Madhav along with Sarbanda Sonowal — where all the speakers tried their best to convey that BJP is committed to safeguard the interests of all indigenous communities of Assam, including Muslims.

Actually, facing backlash, BJP is now forced, both politically and administratively, to portray itself as pro-indegenous and pro-Assamese. No doubt, these are some positive steps taken by the BJP — which may politically help in the long run. But, worries for saffron party are not yet over. The CAA thorn continues to bite the BJP as the protests led by AASU refuse to die down in the state. Now it remains to be seen what Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will visit the state on January 10, has in his quiver to assuage the anger of the Assamese people. (IPA Service)