The Hemant Singh Sidhu government has made Assamese identity an election issue in Assam! The opposition has been silenced – if they oppose, they will face trouble, otherwise they will lose the election.

The 2026 Assembly elections in Assam could take a new direction after reports of the 1983 violence resurfaced. The Himanta government is projecting the issue in the context of "Assamese identity" and "illegal immigrants," which could benefit the BJP with votes. On the other hand, political pressure is mounting on the Congress and the opposition and they may have to be on the defensive throughout the election. The move could open up possibilities of identity-based voting, polarisation of communities and new alliances.
When the Himanta government placed the reports of the 1983 riots in the assembly, its direct message was that it wanted to give the message that the threat to Assam's identity was there before, is there even today. "Illegal migration, land grabbing, population balance are considered very sensitive issues among voters in a large section of Assam's population. In the last assembly elections, the removal of encroachments from the land of mutts in the state was the main election issue of the BJP. According to government data presented in the Assam Assembly, a total of 4449 families were evicted for allegedly encroaching on government land since the BJP formed the government in the state again under Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in May 2021.