Tripura: political history
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Tribal issues
2021: tribal council passes resolution for own police force
Biswendu Bhattacharjee , Dec 19, 2021: The Times of India
AGARTALA: A three-day special session of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (ADC) on Friday passed a resolution to raise its own police force for maintaining law and order in the sixth scheduled area of the state. The Tripura ADC has become the first among 10 ADCs of northeast in creating its own police force, which was held up for 25 years even after getting assent from the governor in 1994.
Deputy chief executive member of ADC Animesh Debbarma said besides passing resolution to raise a separate police force for the district council, two other resolutions and four bills were also passed after a detailed discussion, in which the opposition members had also taken part and contributed positive points in favour of the present council's intention.
Apart from the TTAADC police service Bill 2021, the house also passed the TTAADC (Constitution, Election & Conduct of Business) (25th Amendment) Bill 2021, TTAADC Village Committee (Conduct of Election) (4th Amendment) Bill 2021, Trade (Licence and Control) (1st Amendment) Bill 2021 as well as introduction and discussion of the TTAADC Civil services 2007 withdrawal Bill. A private member resolution has also been passed to withdraw the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council Land (Allotment & Use Act, 2007), which Debbarma termed as a progressive move of the present council.
Voter turnout in elections
1967-2013 (LS, Assembly)
From: Oinam Sunil & Biswendu Bhattacharjee, February 19, 2018: The Times of India
See graphic:
Voter turnout in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Tripura, 1967-2013
2016-18: BJP Campaign to Dislodge CPM
Prabin Kalita, BJP The New Sarkar In Tripura, March 4, 2018: The Times of India
Two-And-A-Half-Year Campaign Dislodges Party That Held Sway For 25 Years
It took a relentless two-and-a-half-year campaign to dislodge a party that had held sway for 25 years. With its focus on outgoing chief minister Manik Sarkar’s failure to implement the Seventh Pay Commission and growing unemployment, political violence and corruption, BJP seemed to lay siege to CPM.
In the first direct fight between BJP and the Left, the saffron party wasn’t expected to pull ahead — until a few weeks ago. BJP, which did not have a representative even at the councillor level, won 35 of the 50 seats it contested for the 60-member assembly. Its ally, Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), won eight of nine seats. Election to one constituency was countermanded because of the death of the CPM candidate.
The Left front managed to win just 16 seats, while its traditional rival, Congress didn’t win even one. With this, the Grand Old Party seems to have been pushed into near irrelevance in most of the north-east.
The Left front’s defeat could mean a huge setback to its units in Kerala, where it is in government, and Bengal, which it ruled for 34 years till 2011. It also puts Left ideology in danger of becoming obscure in the country.
Compared to Assam and Manipur, which BJP has won over the last two years, Tripura offered a better show. Its vote share soared from 1.5% in 2013 to 43% this time. It holds a majority on its own. The Left front’s vote share, meanwhile, fell to 42.7% from 53.8% in 2013.
BJP in-charge of north-east Ram Madhav described the victory as “revolutionary”. He said, “This is not just a mandate for us. This is the desire of 37 lakh people for freedom. We will create a new Tripura where there will be no place for violence and hatred.”
Apart from development and corruption, the BJP campaign focused on issues related to tribals, who constitute about one-third of the electorate, and offered them more autonomy.
In victory too, Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued his blistering criticism of Sarkar and the Left front, with a tweet that said, “While we are naturally delighted about the historic victory in Tripura, we will always have in our thoughts and prayers the BJP Karyakartas who lost their lives due to mindless Communist violence. It is due to their courage that the party has reached where it has today.”
He said the BJP was fully committed to the overall transformation of the north-east. “This region is blessed with immense potential to become a powerhouse of development. The central government has already undertaken numerous efforts for better growth and opportunities in the north-east,” he said.
Sarkar didn’t spend much time with the media and seemed to have accepted defeat. Sarkar, regarded as one of India’s ‘cleanest’ politicians because of his Spartan lifestyle, said, “People have voted us out of power after 25 years. We thank all those who voted for us.” He is leading from Dhanpur, his home constituency, by 5,000 votes.
The CPM politburo, on the other hand, was scathing in its response. It accused BJP of using money power to win the polls. CPM protested against the Election Commission’s decision to stop counting and wanted the winner to be declared.
IPFT leader NC Debbarma added, “People have given the BJP-IPFT alliance their mandate and we have to abide by it responsibly.”
2018
How BJP wooed Bengalis, kept tribals on its side
In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan of driving out every single illegal Bangladeshi migrant from the country drove voters in Assam to press the button in favour of BJP. The same formula was nuanced two years later to deliver another winning performance, in Tripura, despite the majority of voters there being those who had entered the once-tribal state from across the border.
Why did Bengali-majority Tripura respond so positively to this? The answer is clear. The Left did not anticipate the advantage BJP would derive from the Centre’s move to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 to make illegal migrants eligible for citizenship on the basis of religion. It was music to most migrants from erstwhile East Bengal and Bangladesh — they are Hindus by faith.
The influx of Hindu Bengali refugees post-Partition and the 1971 war reduced the tribals from being the majority community to a minority. But knowing well that without the 20 reserved tribal seats it would be impossible to snatch Tripura from the Left, BJP allied with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, which has been fighting for a separate tribal state. It, however, took care to assuage Bengali feelings by being non-committal on the statehood.
Even as it placated the Bengalis, wooing the tribals was a priority since the state is home to 19 tribes that comprise 31% of the population. “We told the tribals that the citizenship amendment would be of little relevance in Tripura,” said a senior BJP leader.
The Left did not help its own cause by believing that the amendment would not much impact the state’s demographics.
One hurdle remained. IPFT was ready to forge an alliance with BJP only after getting the Centre’s assurance that the demand for Twipraland would be looked into. The Centre obliged, and though the national party has maintained it cannot accede to the statehood, IPFT chief N C Debbarma asserted, “In a way, it means that the Centre has not rejected our movement, but has taken it up for consideration.”
The Left claims it did more for tribal welfare than anyone else. But that held no attractions for the tribal voters. What did was BJP’s gestures, whether it was representing Bharat Mata as a tribal woman or promising the Bharat Ratna to Tripura’s last sovereign, King Bir Bikram. For the tribals, this indicated a big change in political perceptions — the Left had never glorified the Manikya dynasty.
These gamble paid off: BJP won all the 10 tribal seats it contested and its ally, the nine it fought. In fact, one more tribal seat could go to the alliance. Polling at Charilam was deferred to March 12 after the death of the CPM candidate.
UP CM Yogi’s call echoed with Nath Panths
March 4, 2018: The Times of India
Winning over the many Nath Panth followers with seven rallies by UP chief minister Yogi Aditya Nath contributed to the BJP victory in Tripura.
BJP has won five of the seven constituencies as Aditya Nath, chief priest of the Nath Panth temple in Gorakhpur, visited over two days. Most Nath sect members in Tripura are OBCs, who are deprived of reservation in the state. Yogi’s visit was aimed at capitalising on the anger of the community. Tripura has two Goraknath temples at Dharmanagar and Agartala and Aditya Nath visited both.
“The party has achieved historical success in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Aditya Nath told reporters in Gorakhpur.
Sunil Deodhar’s contribution
March 4, 2018: The Times of India
Living in Agartala for 500 days, picking up new food habits, learning the local language — Sunil Deodhar’s investment has paid off with a historic win for BJP in Tripura, where Manik Sarkar and the Left seemed invincible.
Loaned to BJP in 2005, the R-S-S pracharak reached out to people through his NGO, My Home India, which works for the rehabilitation of migrant children.
Deodhar ensured that Union ministers visited frequently, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah also made several trips.
Originally from Maharashtra, Deodhar was in charge of Varanasi when Modi contested the seat in the 2014 general election. Shah then assigned him the difficult task of Tripura.
As a pracharak, Deodhar had worked extensively in the north-east, especially Meghalaya, for eight years in the 1990s. “The victory is the result of the collective effort of several party leaders,” Deodhar said.
When Deodhar took charge of Tripura, it seemed a Herculean task. Only one of the 50 BJP candidates had saved his security deposit in the last election, and the party finished with a meagre vote share of 1.5%.
It also had to dent the state’s strong CPM base.
Deodhar spent 15 days every month in the state, and learnt the Kokborok language, which helped strike a chord with the community that forms about 31% of the state’s population. The party has won all 20 ST-reserved seats in the state.
BJP’s first priority, he said, will be “restoration of law and order and developing confidence among women”.
Diminution of CPM, Sarkar
Prabin Kalita, Sarkar loses his shine, CPM its lustre in Tripura, March 4, 2018: The Times of India
Manik Sarkar found himself alone among the ruins of the Left Front government that he had nurtured and nourished for over two decades. Even a fortnight ago, the picture was different. People discussed whether he would equal the leftist record of running a state, West Bengal, for seven consecutive terms. It didn’t take long for the illusion to vanishe.
Humbled by BJP’s victory, Sarkar only had this to say on the day, “We have been voted out of office after 25 years. I thank all those who voted for us.” His party, CPM, stood by him and came out with a strident defence, accusing the victors of having used money power to swing the mandate in its favour.
The CPM statement further read, “The party will carefully examine the reasons for this electoral setback and take necessary remedial measures.” Indeed, it will have to look deep because Sarkar too wasn’t able to fathom that the ground had slipped beneath his feet.
With a bank balance of Rs 2,410 and cash possession of Rs 1,520 cash entered into his electoral affidavit, Sarkar had the reputation of being a painfully honest leader. He also had the image of a tough taskmaster and the man who had got Tripura rid of militancy. But the 69-year-old found himself confronted by corruption in the form of the Rose Valley chit fund scam and charges that he never developed the state despite rich natural resources like gas, rubber and bamboo.
And this was where BJP struck a chord. At a rally in Sonamura, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the people to replace ‘manik’ (gemstone) with ‘hira’ (diamond) — the latter spelt out in terms of highways, railways and airways. In the end, the promise of a new dawn proved irresistible to a people who had waited ages for a suitable alternative.
Sarkar joined the CPM at an early age before making his state assembly debut in 1980, at the age of 31. Though relatively young, he superseded many of the party veterans and climbed the ranks to become the chief minister in 1998 at 49.
He was the recipient of one last salvo after the poll results on Saturday. Having wooed the Hindu Bengali majority, many of them migrants from the erstwhile East Bengal and later East Pakistan, by promising them legal citizenship if they were Hindus, BJP’s Tripura incharge, Himanta Biswa Sarma, reiterated a favourite theme. He had kicked off a mid-campaign row by suggesting that Sarkar be sent to Bangladesh after the election, and on Saturday repeated the advice in gentler terms. “Manik Sarkar is now free to go to West Bengal, where the CPM still has some presence, or he can go to Kerala or Bangladesh,” Sarma quipped.
Shah’s alliance with IPFT tilted scales in favour of BJP
BJP chief Amit Shah’s decision to okay an alliance with tribal outfit Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) despite misgivings in sections of the party was crucial in sealing a stunning electoral win that ended the Left’s long monopoly over power in the state.
The proposal for a tie-up with IPFT was strongly mooted by Assam leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, who along with party general secretary Ram Madhav has emerged as a key political strategist for the BJP in the north-east. Sarma argued that an alliance with IPFT, despite the risk that it might provoke a backlash from Bengali voters, was a risk worth taking if it could undermine CPM’s hold in a significant vote.
There were concerns that IPFT’s ability to deliver the tribal vote faced some tough competition and the decision to offer nine seats to the outfit was also discussed at length. But Shah decided that while the political options were challenging and even uncertain, a bold move to snatch the tribal vote and tap its perceived disenchantment with the Left was needed to beat a well-entrenched CPM government.
The pitch worked and while there was a backlash, it was contained as urban seats of Agartala went the BJP way even though the party did not do well in rural areas with large Bengali populations. The saffron party’s pitch against Bangladeshi illegals did not impress this section of the vote, including Hindus, who have settled in the state and are resentful of being tagged as “outsiders”.
While aligning with the tribal sentiment of alienation was important for BJP in Tripura, in Meghalaya, it entered into an “undeclared” alliance with sub-regional outfits in order to maximise the gains of parties opposed to Congress and CM Mukul Sangma. The outreach to these parties began well in advance of the polls but the BJP leadership’s preoccupation with Tripura where the battle royale was raging made the task more demanding.
BJP held discussions with United Democratic Party (UDP) and the parties fielded candidates in a manner that reduced the possibility of mutual damage. Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) chief Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit lost the election and this proved to be a lucky break for BJP’s efforts to back a non-Congress government in the state. Basaiawmoit had serious reservations about BJP but an electoral loss weakened his position and made it easier for two HSPDP candidates to offer support.
The moves led to Conrad Sangma-led NPP receiving the invitation from the governor to form the government in Meghalaya, sealing a 3-0 victory for the NDA. The decision of UDP and HSPDP turned the tables on incumbent CM Sangma who was left stranded with 21 MLAs in a House of 60.
2022
Manik Saha replaces Biplab Kumar Deb as SM
Prabin Kalita & Akhilesh Singh, May 15, 2022: The Times of India
Guwahati/New Delhi: Nine months before the assembly elections, Tripura BJP president Manik Saha on Saturday replaced Biplab Kumar Deb as chief minister, amid growing unhappiness with the current government in the north-eastern state.
Barely 24 hours after meeting Union home minister Amit Shah, Deb tendered his resignation on Saturday to governor S N Arya. Hours later, Saha, a 69-year-old dentist, was elected leader of the BJP legislature party in Agartala. Saha will be sworn in on Sunday morning. After B S Yediyurappa (Karnataka), Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat (both Uttarakhand) and Vijay Rupani (Gujarat), Deb is the fifth BJP CM to be replaced without completing the full five-year term.
