BJP’s surge in N-E: Assam win turning point

The roadmap for the BJP juggernaut to roll on in the north-east was laid in 2016 in Assam when the BJP romped home to victory ousting the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government, which had ruled the State for three consecutive terms since 2001.

The saffron party’s grip in the region strengthened further when the party could manage to form a Government in Arunachal Pradesh after the Chief Minister Pema Khandu and his team switched from Peoples Party of Arunachal (PPA) to the BJP followed by forming yet another government in Manipur, ousting the Congress which had been in power for over two terms.

The party’s success in Tripura today, however, is of prime significance as the saffron party could managed to win absolute majority from a mere negligible force in the state, which was one of the last citadels of the Left in the country.

From being a near negligible force in 2013 elections to now ousting the deeply-entrenched Manik Sarkar-led CPI (M) dispensation from power, the BJP’s turnaround came about in the last two years as the party worked together with the RSS even as the Centre ably aided their efforts with one Union Minister making it to the North East every 15 days to drive home the message that the region was of immense importance for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The victory in Tripura today is a team work. There are many factors. However, we have adopted some of the innovative steps to reach out to the people of the state,” said Sunil Deodhar, party’s in charge for the state. Deodhar, a former RSS pracharak, who was also the poll manager of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Varanasi during the Lok Sabha polls of 2014.

“We used to send a group of 24 people, called ‘Modi-doots’ meet several railway passengers with two letters one narrating the three years of work of BJP led government at the centre and one narrating the misdeeds of the 24 years of Left Front rule in Tripura,” said Deodhar while adding that the Modi doots not ensured ahead of the polls that each vote is cast and cast for the cause of development.

“People have realized the lack of development of the state. However, earlier there were no options. The politics of development initiated by the BJP led NDA government at the Centre was also one of the reasons for the success of BJP here,” said Deodhar adding that party’s alliance with the Indigenous Peoples’ Front of Tripura (IPFT) also worked in favour.

On the other hand, the saffron party, is also going to play king maker’s role in Nagaland, where the party had a pre-poll alliance with the newly formed NDPP. While the BJP has won in 12 seats out of the 20 contested in Nagaland, NDPP could manage to win in 17 seats—making the strength of the BJP-NDPPm alliance to 27. The JD (U) who won one seat had already extended its support to the BJP-NDPP alliance.

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju had earlier stated that while the party is having an alliance with the Neiphu Rip led NDPP, the saffron party also not averse to Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF), one of the old allies of the NDA.

Although the party could win only two seats in Congress ruled Meghalaya, the BJP top brass had already sent convener of the BJP led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) and Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to Meghalaya to look into possibilities of forming a non-Congress government in Meghalaya.

Although the party could win only two seats in Meghalaya, one cannot rule out possibility of a non-Congress government in the state if the saffron party could manage to unite to bring together Nationalist Peoples’ Party (NPP) and other anti-Congress forces in the state.