What is the significance of this landslide victory in Northeastern States?
The mandate in Tripura is historic in many ways. The state has been under Communist rule for 25 years and under Manik Sarkar’s rule for 20 years. They implemented the literal communist style of governance wherein all the institutions were systematically infiltrated by the communist cadre. They literally took over the entire ‘system’ there. People certainly wanted to get rid of them, but they did not have any viable alternative. This time the people wanted change and the BJP presented itself as a strong alternative. The Election Commission also ensured that the elections are held in a democratic and clean manner.
What was the strategy that paid dividend in the polls, especially in Tripura and Nagaland?
It is true that the BJP was a small party in Northeastern states until a couple of years ago. In Tripura, we promised peace, unity and development. Tripura, under communist rule, has seen the most violent rule in the country. The camouflage was that Manik Sarkar was a sober and down to earth leader. But the reality was that the state under him witnessed the highest rate of crime. Not just the political adversaries, even the media was not safe. So, we promised them peace. Tripura has two distinct groups—Bengali speaking people and the tribals, who are about 35 per cent. The CPM very cleverly played one against the other. They also gave scope to the forces to rise among the tribals who started demanding a separate state. Though, demanding a separate state is not anti-national, there was strong feeling among tribals that they are being discriminated and their culture, customs and language are not safe. We promised them unity and entered into an electoral alliance with the IPFT. Another issue is development. Tripura is the state, which still pays 4th pay commission salary to its employees, whereas other states pay as per 7th pay commission. We promised them clean, transparent and non-corrupt government. Our alliance with IPFT proved very helpful. We brought IPFT to issue a statement that they are committed to unity and integrity of Tripura. We have promised the tribals to take care of their economic, cultural and social concerns. It is because of it that we won 17 out of 19 tribal seats we contested.
What about Nagaland and Meghalaya?
The victory in Nagaland is more significant. In the state, which has demographically not been helpful for BJP, we contested 20 seats and won 12 with 16 per cent votes. If we apply it to the whole state we have secured 48 per cent popular votes. Our adversaries like the NPF, who were fellow travelers until a few months ago, projected the BJP as a Hindutva party and unleashed the most communal campaign in the state. Yet, people supported the BJP. Together with the NDPP, we have formed a government there. Secondly, Naga Accord, being worked out between Government of India and underground groups, is very close to be finalised. The implementation of that accord will be on our shoulders now.
The government formation in Meghalaya with the support of BJP is being termed as ‘murder of democracy’. What do you say?
In Meghalaya, we have secured 10 per cent votes. For us, it is a matter of satisfaction. Like Nagaland, in Meghalaya also a thoroughly communal campaign was unleashed by Congress. All the time they were speaking about threat to Christianity. We contested all alone and secured two seats and stood second on 7 seats. It was a fractured mandate. Congress went to the Governor claiming to be the single largest party. The Constitution and Supreme Court clearly state that the Governor has to be satisfied with the number for simple majority. It is not enough to be the single largest party. In our case, we supported NPP, which along with four other parties submitted a list of 34 MLAs. In a state where the majority mark is 30, we presented 34 MLAs. Naturally, the Governor invited the NPP to form the government. I don’t see it an anti-democracy action.
How did the developmental initiatives by central government help in managing the campaign there?
Prime Minister Modiji, right from the day one, has put lot of emphasis on development in Northeastern region. Our government understood the strategic importance of the region under the larger Act East policy. It is good that out of 7, now in 6 Northeastern states the BJP is part of the Governments. This will certainly help take forward the PM’s vision of development. The Ministry of DoNER has been very active in the region. Today, if you find any good road in these states, it is simply the centrally funded i.e. the national highways. We emphasised on electrification of villages. Today, except Arunachal, in other states we have achieved near 100 per cent electrification. Now, we are taking it to the next level of ensuring 100 per ent electrification of every household. Hence, we talked about development and people are convinced. The efforts put forward by the Centre and other ministries certainly helped us.
The gap between the Northeast with rest of Bharat, real and artificial, exists at many levels. Do you think it can be bridged with the BJP getting stronghold there?
The gap was a reality until a few years ago. The NE has largely come out of the mindset of cultural or national alienation. Now we have to see the Northeast with different prism. Even in states like Nagaland, where we still have an active underground movement, people at large are convinced that they are part and parcel of this great nation. The PM’s efforts have further helped in cementing this feeling. The lack of development accentuated the feeling of alienation. The situation was indeed very pathetic. But when physical connectivity happens, the emotional connectivity automatically follows. I was thrilled to see a large number of youth in Nagaland and Tripura being attracted to the BJP because of two things—Modi and development. We have to support the people there in the form of infrastructure and development. They are as much Indians as anybody else in rest of the country.
It has been a long struggle for the Sangh and BJP workers in Northeastern states. Some even sacrificed their lives.
Today, the BJP has grown into a big entity in a number of Noerhteastern states, but the core remains those who have been brought forward by the Sangh years ago. In Tripura, four of the Sangh Pracharaks were kidnapped and we never found even their dead bodies. But today we see a flood of people into the BJP in Tripura. We have secured 43 seats there but the core remains those who had joined the party when there was nothing. Originally inspired by the Sangh they came into the politics and gradually built the party in their respective states.
The Sangh workers worked there at the time when a severe sense of alienation was there. They created a constituency for India. That constituency has become our core. Even in different political parties there, people still mention that they participated in the SEIL (Students’ Experience in Interstate Living) programme. Even in states like Nagaland and Meghalaya where the Sangh had little scope to grow, our karyakartas worked through Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and other frontal organisations. Now we see lot of people there with India at the heart.
Individually, first you handled J&K and now the NE. Have you expertised on managing the difficult areas?
There have been difficulties in managing these areas because the BJP is very new to the people there. Building the BJP there was a thrill and I enjoyed it. Modiji is hugely popular everywhere.. I have been in RSS and also in Organiser Weekly for a long time. Not a single year passed without the Sangh Karyakarini and the Pratinidhi Sabha passing any resolution on any one of these areas. These were treated as challenges for our ideological cause. I am happy that in these areas today Swayamsevaks are in power. This gives lot of satisfaction.
There are reports of vandalism in Tripura after the BJP victory?
There is no vandalism in Tripura at all. Being thoroughly beaten up by the people of Tripura electorally, the communists are trying to take a kind of victimhood posture. The case of Lenin statue being removed was entirely a private act. A private group had erected that statue there some years ago, and now it decided in its own wisdom to remove that. Nobody vandalised that. After the removal of it, nobody filed any case. Not even the municipality, because it was not a Government property. It was simply the case of change of mindset. If I was communist I had a Lenin’s photograph, the day I was influenced by the Congress, I removed Lenin and put up Indira Gandhi. It is as simple as that. But it was presented as if the BJP people demolished the statue, which is an utter falsehood. The CPM is also claiming that 500 of their cadres were attacked and injured by the BJP workers. Not a single incident of violence has happened in Tripura. I ask the CPM people to give a list of their injured cadres. On the contrary, many of our cadres are still in the hospitals after being attacked by CPM cadres during elections.
What are the challenges ahead?
Our governments will try to provide clean and non-corrupt administration. It is important that every tribe feels its involvement in governance. That is certainly a challenge. In many states we have ensured proper representation of all tribes in the party system itself. They find a place in Government also. n
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