Before the Tripura Assembly polls result, nobody had ever dreamt, that the BJP will someday demolish the Left citadel and form government in a State where the Left has ruled for two and a half decades. But the storm of saffron has finally made inroads in Tripura and knocked out the Manik Sarkar Government. This is nothing less than a perfect dream come true. The Organiser Corespondent, Nishant Kumar Azad spoke to the BJP Tripura Incharge Shri Sunil Deodhar, the master of ceremonies regarding the political metamorphosis in Left fortress. Excerpts:
After a long wait, finally the Left Government-led by Manik Sarkar has been thrown out of power in Tripura. How do you see this historic victory?
For me, this is a spectacular victory and something which I had anticipated just after six months of my appointment as Tripura Prabhari. During the six months, I visited almost all the corners of Tripura twice. I was able to read the results on the faces of Tripura’s people. They were seeking for change. They wanted to throw out the incumbent Left-led by Manik Sarkar. We have broken the Communists’ spine. Their support base has already plateaued and they will not be able to march ahead anymore.
How was the election campaign was carried out and what is the secret of this big success?
‘Dedication and hardwork of our karyakartas and the postitive approach of PM Shri Narendra Modi and National President Shri Amit Shah, young leaders like Biplab Deb’ was the key to this success. Four mammoth rallies of PM Modi in Tripura, that is considered as a small State, conveyed a big message to the people. In the last three years, Amit Shahji had organised over 100 meetings in the State that encouraged and guided the karyakartas. Biplab Deb also tirelessly worked for 18 hours a day over the years to bring the change in the State.
A team work of the BJP karyakartas of all levels i.e. from pristha pramukh to state level karyakartas brought this affirmative result. We reached the people with diligent effort to break the stranglehold of the Communists in Tripura.
How far did your work as an RSS Pracharak in North East help you in the election campaign and reaching out to the people?
RSS Pracharak is a person, who works wherever he is appointed. His task is to build up the organisation there keeping himself in the background.
There was nothing to start with in Tripura. Everything had to be built from the grassroots. I was expected to strengthen the organisation there. Specifically, a place where you are new and there is no base of your organisation, than you have to socialise with the people, you have to hit the ground zero time and again, spend hours and hours with the local people, eat what they eat, learn and speak their language, take part in their festivals, be part of their life, only then you will be able to make space in their hearts. We tried to understand their problems and then share them with our people and later found right solution. The training I got from RSS helped me a lot to build organisation there. I worked in Tripura on the same line as I worked in Meghalaya. I was able to inspire 60 new karyakartas to work as vistaraks. They worked tirelessly to bring about the change.
The system has been in the grip of the CPM for a long time, how will BJP bring Tripura out of that strangehold?
The working style of the Communist Party is to politicise the administration and to criminalise the politics and they have done this for the last twenty five years.
But BJP does not believe in politics of interference. The administration will be free of politics. We are quite confident that each and every employee in the State, from bottom to top will be engaged in implementation of the government programmes effectively. They will be crosschecked and monitored regularly. We are confident that soon we will overcome all the problems and bring Tripura on the path of development.
What will be the priorities of the BJP Government to bring Tripura on the developmental path?
Priority for the BJP Government in Tripura is to maintain law and order as it is the key to development. Secondly providing good governance to the people and thirdly, we will focus on utilising the natural resources for the upliftment of the people of Tripura like food processing, rubber factories, bamboo. Tripura bamboo is considered as one of the best bamboo produced in India and it can prove to be green gold for the people of Tripura.
The State has potential to be a good destination for tourism. I am sure the BJP Government led by Biplab Deb will also focus on that aspect to lure the tourists from all over the world. All these efforts will generate the employment for
youth.
CPM has a history of violence, do you think that they will avenge of this win by violence?
They are already taking revenge. Whatever has happened in the last three-four days, is disgraceful. The CPM workers have gone on a vandalism spree after losing the battle. They are trying their best to threaten the BJP people. Even they have attacked number of BJP karyakartas. Number of houses, vehicles and shops of our karyakartas were vandalised and set ablaze. After forming government in the State, we will not spare those who are responsible for these mishappenings.
Do you think that the results in Tripura elections will have an impact in other states where Left is in power or have a strong base?
Definitely, it is already visible. If you look at the statements of Mamata Banerjee after poll results, you can imagine the situation. She is continuously giving meaningless statements regarding Tripura elections. She is now scared of BJP and is perhaps forseeing the defeat in next West Bengal Assembly elections.
In Kerala also, Thousands of Kilos of ladoos were distributed across the State by the BJP karyakartas after the Tripura result. The landslide victory in Tripura will work as a morale booster for the karyakartas in Kerala. The confidence of our karyakartas across the country is at its peak because of our thumping performance in the states where we do not exist.
The CPM still managed to get 42.7 per cent votes, may be because it is a cadre based party. How will the BJP take the people from left into confidence?
See, this time, the base of Left in Tribal-dominated areas has totally been uprooted by the BJP and IPFT. CPM failed to gain in Tribal constituencies. They won the two seats by a small margin of around 200 and 500 votes. All the tribal voters shifted to BJP and its alliance. Even, out of 10 schedule caste seats, 9 were won by the BJP and alliance. The results show that the people from all castes rejected the CPM and their claim of being the only guardians of poor, deprived and Scheduled Castes people.
