Gautam Dhanowar, a prominent face of the Tea Tribe community has decided to leave the BJP and return to the Congress party. He has described his return as a “Ghar Wapsi,” and accused the BJP of fooling him and his community with empty promises. Dhanowar, who is the son of former Digboi MLA and state minister late Rameswar Dhanowar said he has spent four tough years in the BJP but has now reached a point where he sees no future with them.
Speaking exclusively to Northeast Scoop, Dhanowar said that he had joined the BJP with full sincerity and wanted to work for the development of the Tea Tribe people. He said he had been a loyal Congress worker for nearly three decades and had carried out various works related to community welfare, labour rights and development activities. He thought switching to the BJP might give him more space to work for the community. But during the four years he spent in the party, he said he faced repeated hurdles and never got a proper opportunity to do meaningful work.
The turning point for him, he said, was the recent decision of the Assam government to approve Scheduled Tribe status for six communities including the Adivasi groups of the Tea Tribes. Dhanowar said the move looked good in public announcements, but in reality it was misleading. He said Tea Tribes in other states like West Bengal have had this status for a long time because their governments genuinely supported them. He said that in Assam the Tea Tribe people have lived for nearly two hundred years and worked hard in the tea gardens, yet their rights and identity have not been recognised properly. 
He criticised the Assam government for adding a ‘Valley’ tag to the proposed ST category. According to him, this ST (Valley) category does not exist in the Constitution, which recognises only ST (Plains) and ST (Hills). He said this was only a tactic to impress voters before elections and that the government was trying to fool innocent people. He insisted that next time the community must demand ST (Plains) clearly so that such confusion and political tricks cannot be used again.
Dhanowar said the BJP never gave him any real chance to work for his community. He alleged that the party uses development promises only for political gain. He believes the present ST proposal will not stand legal scrutiny and might get rejected by the central government because it is not constitutionally valid. According to him, the BJP is interested only in votes and not in the real upliftment of Tea Tribe people.
He added that Congress leaders have constantly stayed in touch with him and encouraged him to return. He feels that in a democratic system, opposition parties allow more space for dialogue and he expects to work much more effectively for his people after going back to Congress. He said he has made up his mind and that he is returning to Congress where he believes his real political home exists.
