Nagaon Lok Sabha byelection: Dried fish follows biryani in campaign

GUWAHATI

Sun- or smoke-dried fish is a delicacy in Assam. It can also be divisive at times, used for body-shaming or as a classist or racist slur against certain food cultures.

In the electoral battle for the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat, dried fish has followed biryani and biscuits to target candidates and key campaigners.

The by-election to the Muslim-dominated constituency is scheduled for October 6. Pradyut Bordoloi won the seat for the second successive term in 2024, but quit Congress to contest and win the Dispur Assembly constituency as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in April 2026, necessitating the by-poll.

During one of his campaigns, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Mohammed Badruddin Ajmal referred to Congress MP Rakibul Hussain as a “madman”. He also said the MP was “born eating dried fish, not biryani”, a veiled reference that he is more Bengali than Assamese.

Although dried fish is popular among some indigenous communities, it is associated more with Bengalis — Hindus and Muslims — in Assam. Bengali speakers are a sizeable population in Nagaon.

A former State Minister, Mr Hussain is a Nagaon native and a Congress key campaigner. He ended Mr Ajmal’s winning streak in western Assam’s Dhubri Lok Sabha seat by more than 10 lakh votes.

The food narrative entered the Nagaon by-poll campaign on September 28 when Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recalled his association with Mr Hussain during his Congress days. During one of his campaigns, the Chief Minister also commented on the latter’s food habits.

Mr Hussain countered by saying God made him wealthy enough to eat biryani, while referring to Mr Sarma’s alleged weakness for biscuits.

“What can I do if he (the Chief Minister) was born to eat biscuits in the morning and at night? He got to see pulao and chicken after joining Congress,” Mr Hussain said.

The Chief Minister reacted by comparing the Congress MP to Bakasura, a mythological crane-demon with an insatiable appetite. He also said the MP consumes pulao and meat three times before 9 a.m.

“Does an infant drink its mother’s milk or eat biryani after birth? Those in the former category are humans, and those in the latter are beasts,” Mr Sarma said while campaigning in the Muslim-majority Juria area.

The Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency was a Congress bastion before Rajen Gohain won it for the BJP four times from 1999 to 2014. Congress wrested it in 2019 and 2024. The BJP has fielded former bureaucrat Devasish Sharma in the constituency. His prime rivals are former MLA Sibamoni Bora of Congress and Mr Ajmal of the AIUDF.

The constituency has 12 other contestants, including nine independents.