This news report is a collaboration between The Wire and Guwahati-based news portal, The CrossCurrent.
Guwahati/New Delhi: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma used state government funds amounting to crores of rupees to hire helicopters and chartered planes to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party, both within and outside the state, Right to Information replies from the Assam government have revealed. This is a prima facie violation of the Election Commission’s model code of conduct.
RTI requests filed by The CrossCurrent on August 26, 2022, also reveal that Sarma hired chartered planes with taxpayers’ money to attend a number of weddings, apart from party meetings. No government is supposed to spend any public funds on non-official work. ‘Non-official work’ naturally includes party-related activities and attending private parties – neither of which can be paid for by public funds.
In September, the Sarma government had claimed in the state assembly that the money spent on hiring chartered planes were only for government programmes.
Initially, the state’s General Administration Department did not respond to the RTI application filed in August 2022, seeking information on such financial overheads of the government. On September 30, 2023, Pradip Sarma, under secretary and State Public Information Officer at the department, shared some information only after the State Information Commission – responding to The CrossCurrent’s appeal – directed it to do so on August 8, 2023.
Though the RTI application had sought such details from May 10, 2021, till the time of reply, the information provided by the department even after the Commission’s direction, has only been partial.
Additionally, the reporters filed a separate RTI request with the Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC), related to the department hiring chartered flights for the chief minister’s use as such services are routed through ATDC by the state administration. The ATDC is yet to reply, even though three months have passed. This is in violation of the RTI Act 2005 which says the officers designated as the first appellate authority must reply to an RTI query within 30 days.
Not model conduct
As per clause 7 (a) of the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct, “The ministers shall not combine their official visit with electioneering work and shall not also make use of official machinery or personnel during the electioneering work.”
Clause 7 (b) explicitly states that “government transport including official aircrafts, vehicles, machinery and personnel shall not be used for furtherance of the interest of the party in power.”
However, government-provided information, though partial, and photographic evidence from Sarma’s own social media handles have shown that the chief minister violated the code at least five times, by using Assam government funded helicopters to campaign for the candidates of his party’s allies.
1. As per the RTI reply, Sarma used a state exchequer-funded helicopter on October 17, 2021, to fly from Guwahati to Tamulpur and back. That day, Sarma was seen campaigning for a candidate of the BJP ally, the United People’s Party Liberal – Jolen Daimary – who was contesting in a by-election from the assembly seat of Tamulpur.
2. The next day, on October 18, 2021, Sarma again used a helicopter paid for by the state government to travel from Guwahati to Gossaigaon. That day, he attended a memorial meeting there to pay tribute to Justin Lakra, founding president of All Adivasi Student Association of Assam. Sarma also attended an event organised for the Kati Bihu festival.
3. A day later, on October 19, 2021, the chief minister’s social media handles showed that he campaigned in the by-election, for another United People’s Party Liberal candidate, Jiron Basumatary, at Gossaigaon.
4. On October 30, 2021, by-elections were held also in Thowra, Mariani and Bhabanipur assembly constituencies in Assam besides Gossaigaon and Tamulpur. While Sarma used helicopters to campaign for his party in those constituencies too, it is unclear who funded them since the state’s General Administration Department has not provided information specific to those travel dates. The by-poll to the Majuli assembly constituency was held on March 7, 2022. The seat had fallen vacant after former Assam chief minister and now Union minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, resigned from the seat, having been elected to the Rajya Sabha in September 2021.
5. On February 16, 2022, BJP candidate Bhuban Gam filed his nomination papers to contest from the Majuli assembly seat. CM Sarma was present alongside Gam while he submitted his nomination papers in Majuli. The Sarma government’s RTI reply explicitly mentioned that the chief minister flew to Majuli that day. Photographic evidence showed that he had flown to the river island for the BJP’s, activities, using a government-funded helicopter.
Out of Assam, too
The dates mentioned in the RTI replies reveal that Sarma used public money to campaign for the BJP outside the state too, including in the Delhi municipal elections.
On January 30, 2023, Sarma once again used a state government-financed chartered flight to be in Tripura where he was seen attending the filing of the nomination papers in Bardowli constituency by his party colleague and chief minister Manik Saha to contest the assembly polls.
Sarma is perceived to be close to the BJP’s national leadership and is the party’s star campaigner. He is often seen when the BJP’s regional leaders file nomination papers. He was also seen addressing election rallies for the party during the recent assembly polls in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana. Sarma went on those campaign trips for his party using chartered flights. But information filed by his government does not make it clear who paid for those rides.
On February 21, 2023, Sarma was seen campaigning for BJP’s top leader in Nagaland, Temjen Ima Along. Since the Assam government gave the hiring details of chartered flights for the chief minister partially, it can once again not be said who had funded that trip for a party activity to the neighbouring state by helicopter.
Attending weddings in chartered flights
The dates mentioned in the RTI replies on which the state government had chartered planes/helicopters also show that Sarma had used the state exchequer’s money to attend as many as five weddings.
This includes the wedding of the daughter of Nagaland chief minister Neiphu Rio on November 11, 2022. The RTI reply showed that trip to Nagaland had cost the Assam exchequer Rs 14,08,562.
On January 31, 2023, Sarma also used an Assam government-funded chartered flight to fly to Lucknow. That day, the chief minister’s social media handles showed him attending Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak’s daughter’s wedding. That trip cost the state exchequer a whopping Rs 23,43,750.
Three other dates on which the state government hired chartered flights for the chief minister tallied with him attending three more weddings with taxpayers’ money within Assam. Those were – BJP MLA Siddhartha Bhattacharjee’s daughter’s wedding reception at Dimoria near Guwahati on January 20,2022; former leader of All Assam Bodo Students Union, Maneswar Daimary’s wedding in Kokrajhar on January 24, 2022; and Assam health minister Keshab Chandra Mahanta’s brother and Asam Gana Parishad (AGP) leader Monimadhab Mahanta’s wedding at Hatbar area of Kaliabar in middle Assam on February 1, 2023.
On January 20, 2022, chief minister Sarma hired a chartered flight to travel to Haflong from Guwahati on official work but instead of returning to Guwahati, he chose to take a detour to Dimoria, located about 30 kms away, to attend his party colleague’s daughter’s wedding before returning to Guwahati by air.
Chartered flights are billed hourly.
Attending party meetings on state-funded special flights
Going by the RTI data provided by the Assam state government, between September 22, 2021 and January 24, 2023, Sarma used state-funded chartered planes at least seven times to attend BJP meetings, including one in Hyderabad on January 9, 2022.
The dates that tallied with the RTI replies given to The CrossCurrent showed that Sarma had attended five party meetings using public money within Assam. They were in Amingaon near Guwahati on September 22, 2021; at Bongaigaon on November 25, 2021; at Morigaon on December 10, 2021 and January 24, 2023; and at Golaghat on February 5, 2022.
On September 22, 2021, Sarma was in Bokakhat to attend a programme to destroy the stockpile of rhino horns seized during raids by the state government. Instead of returning to Guwahati, he took a detour to Amingaon to attend a party meeting.
On November 24, 2021, while Sarma was in Bongaigaon to attend a meeting of the state cabinet held there, he, however, stayed overnight to be able to attend a party meeting the next day which also included inaugurating the BJP Bongaigaon district office in the presence of the party’s Assam president Bhabesh Kalita. On November 25, 2021, he was seen taking off from Bongaigaon to Guwahati in the chartered helicopter.
While on December 20, 2021, Sarma had flown to Morigoan to inaugurate a newly constructed science building of the Morigaon College, his itinerary also included attending an event organised by BJP’s youth wing. It also meant that the state government had to pay in lakhs for the extra time he held up the return of the chartered flight to Guwahati by spending time at his party’s event.
Partial information
In September 2023, information provided by the state government to the Assam assembly had stated that the total expenditure on hiring helicopters and chartered planes by the administration for the financial year 2022-23 was Rs 34,13,42,303. As stated above, the written reply by the Sarma government had also categorically stated that the amount was spent only for government activities.
However, partial information supplied by the General Information Department to The CrossCurrent shows that the amount spent to charter special planes was Rs 19,74,62,659 for the financial year 2022-23. There is a discrepancy of Rs 14,38,79,644 between data supplied to the assembly and what was shared through RTI replies.
Context on rules for ‘official trips’
This December, after a video clip of the entire Karnataka cabinet chartering a flight to New Delhi had gone viral, the BJP accused the Congress-led government of wasting taxpayers’ money on “luxury lifestyles” while the state grappled with a severe drought. The Congress, in a statement, had responded by stating that the leaders were returning from New Delhi after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah over release of funds for drought relief – which was official work.
In September, the Maharashtra government amended rules for use of state-owned aircraft and helicopters to give easier access to the governor and the two deputy chief ministers, apart from the chief minister, but stipulated that the purpose of those uses also had to be official work. The tweaking of that government’s rules came after the outgoing governor Bhagat Singh Koshiari was famously refused permission by the chief minister’s office to use the official aircraft to fly to Dehradun in 2021.
On May 26, 2021, the Assam cabinet had also decided to hire helicopters and chartered aircraft for the governor, chief minister, ministers and senior government officials but noted that they would be strictly for official visits.
What is also noteworthy is that as per the RTI replies, between May 10, 2021 till the time when the information was furnished in September 2023, the state exchequer bore a staggering Rs 45,62,05,755 to meet the supply of helicopters and chartered flights to ferry top state dignitaries. The maximum number of flights were undertaken by CM Sarma.
For instance, between May 20, 2021 and July 18, 2021, all such flights cost the Assam government Rs 4,46,09836, of which Rs 3,30,03834 was only for Sarma’s journeys. Since the information provided by his government is partial, it is not possible to compute the total expenditure on his chartered flights. However, what can be said from the information provided is that Sarma used such chartered flights for 240 days, over the course of two years. He took most of those flights to travel from Guwahati to Delhi.
Also, the bills provided with the RTI replies show that chartered flights or helicopters hired from a private player on the Guwahati-Delhi route had cost the state government between Rs 2,25,000 and Rs. 4,15,000 per hour, depending on the aircraft it picked.
For instance, if the state government hired a flight from Guwahati to Delhi at the rate of Rs 4,15,000 per hour between September 20 and 21, 2021, the bill would come to Rs 33,10,606, including 18% GST and ground-handling, watch extension, crew and belt charges.
One such bill of a chartered flight within Assam, on the Guwahati-to-Haflong circuit, showed cost Rs 24,23,750, including 18% GST and other related charges.
Costs to debt-ridden Assam
The Assam government’s RTI reply has shown that it had spent crores to meet the chartered flight requirements for top leaders in Assam, including chief minister Sarma’s unofficial engagements, like political campaigning, party meetings and other social obligations, like attending wedding parties. Meanwhile, official data highlights the state’s precarious financial condition.
As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data uploaded online in December, till the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government held office, the Assam government had an outstanding loan of Rs 41,963 crores. The amount has ballooned in the last eight years of BJP rule in the north-eastern state. As of the financial year 2022-23, the state’s financial liabilities stood at almost three times that – at a whopping Rs 1,26,281.4 crores.
At this rate, by the end of 2024, the total outstanding financial liabilities of Assam are expected to rise further to Rs 150,900 crores.
This article was first published on The Wire on February 3, 2024.
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