Assam polls: Conflict of cultures likely to be BJP's political discourse

The BJP realised mid-way that the citizenship package was a double-edged sword that might alienate the Assamese Hindus and tribes

“Ali, Coolie, Bengali” was a phrase which for decades signified Assam’s brassbound demographic divisions, until the exigencies of statecraft forced political parties to blur the ethnolinguistic lines and diversify their support. “Ali” was a moniker for the Bengali-speaking Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh; “Coolie” alluded to tea-plantation workers who were largely Adivasis brought from central and east India; “Bengali” primarily meant Bengali Hindus who were settled for long in the state but regarded askance by the Assamese people because of their alleged “insularity”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s emergence as a key player virtually dissolved the Assamese-Bengali divide electorally, but the party