Ritushree grew up with the voice of Zubeen Garg, singing his songs and dancing to them at college functions. A month after the Assamese singer’s death, the 25-year-old polytechnic student from Guwahati is inconsolable.

“I have never met him but he has been part of my daily life since my childhood,” she told Scroll, breaking down before completing the sentence.

Like hundreds of his admirers from across the state, she had come to Kamarkuchi – a site on the outskirts of Guwahati where Garg’s body was cremated and which has turned into a pilgrimage for his fans.

Some of them have travelled from faraway villages, to pay their respects to Garg, who had drowned in the seas off Singapore on September 19, plunging Assam into grief and despair.

Though the Singapore police ruled out foul play, the suspicion that Garg’s death is the result of a conspiracy has taken deep root among Assam’s residents. It has spurred calls for justice and an independent investigation.

Amid chants of “Joy Zubeen da” and “Justice for Zubeen Da”, prayers and the lighting of candles at Kamarkuchi, there was also an unmistakable note of anger – at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

“We trusted the CM,” Ritushree, who voted for the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections, told Scroll. “But that trust has eroded.”

Sarma’s success is often ascribed to his government’s efficient delivery of welfare schemes and divisive anti-Muslim politics.

But, ironically, it was Sarma’s recent promise of more subsidies if the BJP was voted back to power in Assembly elections next year that has riled Ritushree and other fans.

“He is talking about beneficiary schemes and the price of mustard oil,” she said. “But we don’t need all this, we need justice.”

During a Facebook livestream on October 12, Sarma had said: “I am making a promise that I will reduce the price of a cooking gas cylinder by Rs 250. I will also give dal and sugar at low prices, and if we win the next election, I will also give mustard oil at subsidized rate.”

Ritushree alleged that the chief minister was trying to divert the attention from the “movement for justice”.

“I used to support and love him,” she said. “But I can’t do it anymore.”

“Our grief is now turning into rage,” said Phatik Chandra Borah, a 55-year-old farmer of Kaith Para village in Darrang district, who said he was a BJP voter.

Borah was among 70 residents of his village, who had pooled Rs 280 each, and hired a bus to travel 110 km to visit Kamarkuchi, where Garg’s memorial is coming up.

“The government is trying to cover up the matter,” claimed Borah. “We are asking for justice but they are alluring us with welfare schemes or jobs.”

He went on: “People are really angry, as we can see in Baksa.”

On Saturday, angry crowds in Baksa pelted stones at a convoy of vehicles carrying the five arrested in the Zubeen death case. Over 30 people, protestors as well as police personnel, were injured.

“If the government does not sense [this anger] in time, it will learn its lesson in the upcoming elections,” Borah said.

‘Unprecedented challenge’

Beyond Kamarkuchi, the anger over Zubeen Garg’s death appears to be hardening into resentment against the Himanta Biswa Sarma government. In daily conversations, questions are being asked of the state government’s handling of the case and warnings of a Nepal-like revolt against the state are being aired on social media.

The protests seeking justice for Zubeen Garg have not flagged in momentum.

The Tai Ahom Students’ Union, which represents one of six influential ethnic communities which have stepped up pressure on the BJP government for Scheduled Tribe status, also held a protest on October 17 in the Charaideu district. Thousands sang Garg’s songs, sought justice for him and protested the delay in granting Scheduled Tribe status, linking both demands.

The last time the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party faced such public anger was during the protests against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, observers said.

The CAA fast-tracked citizenship for six non-Muslim communities and stoked fears of unchecked migration of Hindu refugees into Assam. Among those who had then spoken up against the law was Zubeen Garg.

“The prevailing situation poses an unprecedented challenge to the CM,” Chandan Kumar Sharma, who teaches sociology at Tezpur University, told Scroll. “This challenge is greater than the one arising from CAA as it cuts across all sections of population.”

Social scientist Hiren Gohain made a similar assessment.“Himanta thought he had climbed to an unassailable position, but now the battlements of his fortress seem to have collapsed and he seems to be alone,” he said.

Sensing the public mood, the BJP has announced that it will launch its own campaign “demanding fast-tracking of the investigation”.

Between October 22 and 30, each BJP district office will host a “mass people’s rally”, the party has announced. Party MLAs have also promised to install Garg’s statues in their constituencies.

“We have to stay with the sentiment and emotion of the public,” a BJP spokesperson told Scroll, when asked why they would stage protests when their party was in power.

He objected to the parallel between the CAA protests and the calls for justice for Garg. “Unlike the CAA movement, there is no divided house, no supporters and opponents,” the spokesperson said. “Everyone is asking for justice. The BJP is not an exception.”

He alleged that people were being instigated by Opposition leaders to turn Assam into a Nepal-like situation.

The Assam chief minister, too, on Tuesday alleged that the protests had deviated from their original purpose and were being hijacked by political interests. “If I resign today, 50% of the protests will end immediately,” he told reporters in Baksa.

‘Cover-up attempt’

The claims of a cover-up have grown because of allegations that Shyamkanu Mahanta, the organiser of the North East India Festival, had links with the Sarma family.

Mahanta is among seven people arrested in the case, including Garg’s manager.

After Opposition leaders alleged that a firm associated with Sarma’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, had links with the Singapore event for which Garg had travelled, she took them to court. She has filed defamation cases against several Opposition leaders, and even the Asomiya Pratidin, the largest circulating Assamese daily.

“People are really angry with the government…,” Surajit Roy, a 36-year-old resident of Bajali district, who has been a driver in Guwahati for the last 15 years. “It is the first time in the last five years that Himanta has been nervous.”

Underlying causes

Several observers pointed out that the Zubeen protests tap into until-now unspoken grievances against their economic conditions.

A senior writer and analyst from the region said there was an underlying sense that “people are not better off than they were before”. “There is a feeling that many programmes are for show and land and identity are not safe in the hands of the current ruling group,” he said.

Though Sarma has successfully wooed voters with welfare schemes, Gohain said, “People were none too happy receiving sops when sources of income seem to have dried up.”

Journalist Sushanta Talukdar pointed out that the pent-up anger against the BJP’s polarising politics was finding expression in the protests. “Zubeen Garg’s death has united people of Assam against all kinds of communal hatred and divisive politics, an ideal pursued by Garg through his songs and films to inspire generations to practice it,” he said

For example, a young man was seen tearing the sacred thread traditionally worn by Brahmins at Garg’s memorial, and announced he would live only as a human.

Talukdar added: “[In contrast] Sarma and his ruling party BJP’s core electoral strategy has remained centred around polarisation of electors on religious lines and otherization of Muslims of erstwhile East Bengal origin.”

The strong message of unity in the protests for Zubeen Garg is a “formidable challenge” to Sarma, he said.

Apurba Kumar Baruah, a political commentator and retired academic, argued that there was a fair amount of anti-incumbency against Sarma’s government because of “land alienation, indiscriminate evacuation and deforestation in tribal areas, unfulfilled promises of giving ST [scheduled caste] status to six tribal communities and the mainstreaming of corruption in all aspects of administration”.

The cloud of corruption over people managing Zubeen Garg might “eventually hurt Sarma’s image irreparably,” he said.

Other observers, however, said that despite the discontent, Sarma may well be able to ride out the challenge ahead of the next Assembly election.

“The popular demand so far has been about giving justice to Zubeen Garg,” Nayan Moni Kumar, who teaches political science at Ajmal Law College, Hojai, told Scroll. “And people do not want any kind of politics in that, not the politics of the ruling party, not the politics of the opposition or even the politics of any civil society organisation.”

He added: “While it is a challenge, and a very strong one at that, BJP will manage to navigate this in the longer run.”

Sharma, who teaches sociology at Tezpur University, also did not anticipate a loss for the BJP because of the protests. “Evidently, the uproar is a manifestation of disgruntlement against the government. However, whether this will reflect in the electoral result is difficult to predict yet. The Opposition’s house is still not in order.”

Roy, the taxi driver in Guwahati, agreed: “The government is afraid but Sarma is shrewd and he knows how he can turn this in his favour.”

The only thing that might tip Assam over into volatile territory, he warned, was if Garima Saikia, Garg’s wife, took to the streets. “Nobody can stop the people of Assam then.”

All photographs by Rokibuz Zaman.

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