Assam polls: Sonowal files nomination in historic Majuli

Assam BJP president and chief ministerial candidate Sarbanada Sonowal here on Wednesday filed his nomination from the historic Majuli Assembly seat.

Mr Sonowal who was accompanied by senior party leaders workers, including Mahendra Singh, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Rameswar Teli, Kamakhya Tasa and Bijon Mahajan, also addressed a large public meeting soon after his nomination.

The party has carefully selected Majuli island for its chief ministerial candidate. Once the biggest river island in the world more than one-and-a-half centuries ago and the seat of Vaishnavite culture, Majuli island is perhaps the only Assembly constituency which is shrinking in size as chunks of its land mass are eroded by the mighty Brahmaputra every year.

In what has been the major area of concern, the island’s area, measured in a survey during the British Raj in 1853, was 1,246 sq km but in a survey of 2011 census, it was discovered that Majuli River Island has shrunk to 584.38 sq km.

The erosion has also rendered over 10,000 families homeless, who now live in makeshift homes on the embankment. There is not a single inch of empty land on the island for their rehabilitation.

The smallest assembly constituency in the state, in terms of area, has now been catapulted as the biggest stage for BJP after the nomination of Mr Sonowal.

Though, party has been doing the homework much in advance to groom the constituency for its chief ministerial candidate by launching construction of bridges over the Brahmaputra to connect Majuli to the mainland.

Mr Sonowal recently announced that tenders have been floated for construction of three bridges over the Khabalu, Luit and Tamulorghuli rivers, which will connect the island with Lakhimpur on its north. These bridges will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 6,000 crore, he said.

The process of preparing the detailed project report of the Rs 10,000-crore bridge over the Brahmaputra, which will connect the island with Jorhat on its south, has also begun.