Dibrugarh: Jharkhand chief minister and JMM supremo Hemant Soren on Sunday hit the campaign trail in upper Assam, addressing a public rally at the Rajgarh tea estate playground in Dibrugarh district in support of party’s Tingkhong candidate Mahavir Baske.Hemant, addressing a gathering that included a large number of tea garden workers and Adivasi members, made a passionate appeal for their support.“The tea tribe community of Assam has waited long for justice. Your ancestors came to this land, built its tea gardens with the sweat of their brow, and made Assam prosperous. Yet, decades later, you are still fighting for your rights, your identity and your dignity. JMM has come to Assam not as an outsider, but as your own — to give voice to your pain and to fight your battles,” he said, drawing applause from the gathering.JMM’s strategy in Assam is anchored in mobilising the estimated 60-70 lakh population of tea tribes, comprising communities such as Santhal, Munda, Oraon and Kurukh, whose ancestors migrated from the Chhotanagpur region during the Colonial period.Hemant has been visiting Assam and raising issues concerning tribal communities, especially after JMM returned to power in Jharkhand in 2024. A key political grievance that Hemant has championed is the demand for ST status for tea tribe communities. While these groups are recognised as STs in states like Jharkhand, they are classified as OBCs in Assam.“It is a grave injustice that the tea community is denied ST status in Assam. This is not a question of politics — it is a question of constitutional rights and human dignity. A JMM presence in the Assam assembly will ensure that this fight is taken to its logical conclusion,” Soren said.Appealing directly to voters in Tingkhong, Soren urged them to back Baske who truly understands the community’s ground realities. “Mahavir Baske is one of your own. He has lived your struggles, he knows your hopes. Send him to the assembly and together we will write a new chapter for the tea tribes of Assam,” he said.Soren had earlier asserted that marginalised communities across the country are looking to Jharkhand for leadership, declaring that JMM would become the voice of tribals facing difficulties anywhere — whether in Assam, Manipur, or any other part of the country.The Tingkhong rally was part of the broader JMM campaigning across tea belt constituencies of upper Assam ahead of the April 9 poll date.
