Hope floats for Assam’s sinking Majuli river Island after BJP’s Assam State president and Chief Ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal filed nomination papers to contest the forthcoming Assembly polls from Majuli legislative Assembly constituency.
Credited with repealing the infamous Illegal Migrants’ (Determination by Tribunal) Act, Sonowal have become a new hope for the residents of Majuli, the unique river Island of Assam which had already lost more than half its landmass due to erosion in the last several years.
Sonowal will contest against the Congress’ sitting MlA Rajib lochan Pegu, who has been retaining the seat since 2001.
Majuli—which is the hub of neo-Vaishnavite culture propagated by 15th century saint philosopher of Assam Srimanta Sankardev—is one of the largest inhabited river Islands in the world.
Mainly inhabited by the Mishing community people, Majuli Island has been severe erosion. Although the State and Central Government had spent hundreds of crores of rupees to protect the Island from erosion and save the rich cultural heritage, the efforts are yet to bring any results.
“Majuli has a history of 300 years of existence. The ancient scriptures has the reference of Majuli and according to the ancient scriptures, the Island is spread to about 1,256 square kms of area. However, according to the Government statistics, the area of the Island is only 523.88 square kms now,” said Debananda Deba Goswami, Deka Satradhikar of Dakhinpat Satra in Majuli.
The erosion not only affected people of the Island by washing away their houses and paddy fields—turning rich farmers into paupers overnight—but also the rich history and cultural landscape of the Island. “There were 65 Satras in the Island during the time of Srimanta Sankardeva. However, now we have only 22 left in the Island. Erosion has already washed away 43 Satras from the Island,” he said while adding that the present location is the fifth location of Dakhinpat Satra.
“We are thankful that Sarbananda Sonowal has chosen Majuli to contest polls. He is a young leader and he will certainly do something to save the Island. Sonowal has filed a case in Supreme Court seeking to repeal the IM(DT) act, which was a bottleneck to identify the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and subsequently it was repealed by the apex court,” said Bhadra Goswami, a school teacher in the Island.