Competitive Populism and Paradox of Identity and Assimilation: Case of the Tea Tribe Community in Assam

The populist arguments, means of mobilization, policies and techniques in India are most often and primarily associated with appeal to nationhood, caste, language and request for cultural assimilation. In the political history of Assam, one of the states of northeast India, we could witness how both national as well as regional political parties of India have used various populist techniques more specifically “competitive populism” to assimilate the tea tribe community with the mainstream. For example -by introducing various welfare schemes like Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar Scheme (Cash Award Scheme Tea Garden Worker) and Cash Scheme, the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has targeted all the communities of Assam, particularly tea workers for their electoral support. Even their demand for achieving “scheduled tribe (ST)” status is under hold due to these smart populist schemes. Competitive populism is creating a complex web of identity debate for the major communities of Assam, significantly for the tea workers. This entry is a modest attempt to address that debate.