Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves at BJP workers as party President J P Nadda looks on during celebrations at the BJP HQ in New Delhi
One year after taking charge as the Chief Minister of the BJP-led Government in Tripura, Dr Manik Saha was asked to lead the party in the Assembly election in February 2023. Amid the huge hue and cry from the opposition parties like Congress, CPI(M) and specially the Mamta Benarjee-led Trinamool Congress, the Tripura BJP leadership accepted the challenge backed by the central leadership. As the result shows a clear victory and absolute majority for BJP for the consecutive second term, incumbent CM Dr Manik Saha termed the marvellous win as result of the party Karyakartas and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s continuous efforts. In his statement, CM Saha said, “The continuous efforts by the Central Government led by PM Narendra Modi to uplift the overall economic scenario and infrastructure of the State were a milestone in the thumping win of the party. People were happy with the good governance of BJP in the last five years in comparison to the 25 years of misrule by the CPI(M) in the State.”
Clear Mandate
For the second consecutive term, BJP has come to power in the North Eastern State of Tripura with a majority. Of the 55 seats the BJP contested in Tripura, the Saffron party and its ally managed to win 33 seats, 2 more than the majority mark. (This figure was attained at the time of writing the report)
The coalition of CPI(M) and Congress could only win in 18 seats. The CPI(M) won 11, while Congress won just 3 seats. Chief Minister Manik Saha has won from the Bardowali constituency by defeating Congress’s Asish Kumar Saha. It should be mentioned that the once arch rivals for years Congress and CPI(M) stitched in a pre-poll alliance to defeat the ruling BJP. But the result shows that the people of Tripura have rejected the Congress-Left alliance.
The BJP contested on 55 seats and its ally, IPFT, on six seats. But both allies had fielded candidates in the Ampinagar constituency in the Gomati district.
The Left contested on 47 and Congress on 13 seats, respectively. Of the total 47 seats, the CPM contested 43 seats while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) contested one seat each.
While the BJP won 33 out of 55 seats it contested, the newly floated regional party Tipra Motha by the royal scion Bikram Manikya Debbarma emerged as the real winner. The party contested in 20 tribal- dominated seats in the State and won 12 seats.
Road Towards Development
In the last five years, under the initiative of the double engine Government, Tripura has witnessed a sea change in development. Be it roads, rail connectivity or internet connectivity, the North Eastern State has emerged as a hub of development due to efforts of the Central Government. The State happens to be the third internet gateway of the country.
Improving Lives of Locals
Among the previous Government’s major achievements which helped the BJP to retain power in Tripura were social security pensions which were increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 for 3.81 lakh beneficiaries; minimum wages for construction labourers were hiked; and subsidised loans were provided to entrepreneurs. In the education sector, 100 Vidyajyoti schools were launched in January 2022 to boost the quality of education. Quality augmentation schemes like Nutan Disha, inauguration of National Law University, National Forensic Science University, three new government degree colleges; and two degree colleges were achieved by the BJP Government in Tripura. Moreover, the Government had reserved 33 per cent of Government jobs for women, made education free for female students at Government colleges, and provided medical facilities to 1.9 lakh pregnant women.
The average income of farmers increased by 68 per cent from Rs 6,580 in 2015 to almost Rs 11,500 in 2022. Under the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, over 13 lakh cards were distributed and claims worth Rs 106 crores were settled for 1.84 lakh beneficiaries.
“Thank you Tripura! This is a vote for progress and stability. BJP will continue to boost the State’s growth trajectory. I am proud of all Tripura BJP Karyakartas for their spectacular efforts at the grassroots” — PM Narendra Modi
The Government introduced the Ban Adhikar app to help forest dwellers and provided land pattas to 1.2 lakh of them. Among the achievements in the tribal welfare segment is the introduction of the Chakma, Garo, Manipuri and Bishnupriya Manipuri languages in the higher classes. The foundation stone for an international Buddhist university was laid in south Tripura. Another major achievement of the BJP government which help the party to retain the power id setting up of over two lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural), 87,217 houses under the PMAY (Urban), and drinking water pipelines for more than 3.93 lakh households under the central government’s Jal Jeevan Mission. It also said that 247 km of six new national highways and four in-principle national highways were upgraded to the double-lane standard with paved shoulders. Over 34,528 people benefited from the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme.
Humiliating Loss
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress proved to be the biggest loser in the Tripura elections. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and her whole team left no stone unturned in Tripura for the last two years to set up TMC’s base. But despite playing the Bengali card repeatedly, the TMC has been vehemently rejected by the people of Tripura in the 2023 Assembly elections. Not a single candidate of the party could win the election in Tripura. The party, which claimed to uproot BJP from power, was reduced to a big zero in Tripura. Likewise the once arch rival CPI(M) and Congress, which formed an alliance to defeat BJP, were also rejected by the voters. CM Manik Saha said, “It was an unholy alliance and this type of thing doesn’t have a place in the holy place of Maa Tripureswari. So the people of Tripura rejected them.” The Congress party was reduced to merely a 3 MLAs party in Tripura after the result was announced on March 2.
Saffron Party Wins In Nagaland
Neiphiu Rio is going to be the next Chief Minister of Nagaland for the fifth term. The magnificent win of the BJP-NDDP alliance in the Assembly election proved that the people of Nagaland have put their trust in the PM Narendra Modi-led Union Government for an amicable solution of the Naga political problem. The next five years will be very important towards achieving an amicable solution of the Naga political problem. The Union Government in the last 8 years had conducted several rounds with the Naga groups in the presence of Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio. Considerable time and energy have been spent to bring a solution to the political problem. The people of Nagaland realised the good work and sincere efforts made by the BJP-led Union Government as well as the BJP-NDDP State Government.
Sixty years since its Statehood, Nagaland on March 2 scripted history in the 2023 election result. For the first time in the history of Nagaland, two women candidates were elected as MLA from two very important constituencies.
Salhoutuonuo Kruse and Hekani Jakhalu, both from the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), achieved a historic feat by winning their respective seats on March 2. Salhoutuonuo Kruse won the Western Angami AC constituency while Jakhalu scripted victory from the Dimapur-III seat.
Hekhani Jakhalu is a faculty member at the Delhi University and she secured 14,395 votes to register her win. After the historic win, she said, “This is only the first step. We need to do many good things in future,” Jakhalu, who was honoured with the Nari Shakti Award in 2018, had made the four-point commitment to the people of the constituency during her campaign. The voters were convinced by promises she made.
Salhoutuonuo Kruse, a hotel owner, registered her win in the Western Angami constituency. The known social worker had served in NGOs for more than 24 years. After the thumping win, Salhoutuonuo Kruse said, “Today, we have created history. This momentous victory belongs to us. I owe this victory to God Almighty, and to my citizens of Western Angami. I am very humbled by the support everyone has given me,”.
The Big Win
The significant emergence of BJP in a Christian-dominated State like Nagaland is a reason to smile for the party leaders. By winning 12 seats of the 20 they had contested, it is now that the Saffron party will have a major share in the next Government in Nagaland.
The party’s central observer, Naleen Kohli, said to the media that the major development initiatives in the State by the BJP-led Union Government has paved the way for BJP to get a magnificent win. It was like a daydream 10 years ago that one could travel to Delhi from Nagaland in 2.30 hours. Fortunately, this is now a reality. The big infrastructural development in Nagaland and overall in the entire North East by the Centre is winning the trust of the people of the region, Kohli added. In the 60 seats of Nagaland Assembly, the BJP-NDPP alliance won 39 seats with a comfortable majority. While CM Rio-led NDDP won in 25 seats, the Temjen Imna Along-led BJP won 14 seats in the State. Interestingly, the Congress party, which ruled the State for a long period, couldn’t win a single seat in the election. The BJP State president Temjen Imna Along said that it is a victory of the clear vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to solve the Naga political problem and develop the State. After the magnificent win of the BJP alliance in Nagaland, Prime Minister Modi said, “I thank the people of Nagaland for blessing the NDDP-BJP alliance with yet another mandate to serve the State. The double engine government will keep working for the State’s progress. I laud our party workers for their hard work which ensured this result.” It should be mentioned that to resolve the Nagaland political issue, the Centre has been holding separate negotiations with NSCN-IM since 1997 and PM Narendra Modi-led Central Government expedited the talks for an acceptable solution since 2014.
The Working Committee of Naga National Political Group (NNPG), comprising at least seven groups, has been in talks with the Central Government and the mediators appointed by the Centre since 2017. The Narendra Modi Government inked a Framework Agreement with NSCN-IM in 2015 and Agreed Position with NNPGs in 2017.
The Meghalaya Victory
For the first time, BJP contested the Assembly election alone in Meghalaya after parting ways with its ally NPP before the election. Many political observers felt that it was a tactical decision on the part of NPP and BJP to go separately in the election to divide opposition votes. It seems that the rumoured strategy helped both the parties. BJP had two MLAs in the 60-member Assembly in Meghalaya and it will remain unchanged in 2023. CM Conrad Sangma-led NPP managed to win 25 seats and another regional party UDP won 11 seats in the result declared on March 2. This means that the NPP, UDP and BJP coalition is going to form the next Government in the hill State. Trinamool Congress, which was trying hard in the State by bringing in its fold several Congress leaders including former CM Mukul Sangma, could only manage to win only 5 seats. The Congress party, which ruled the hill State for several decades, was reduced to 5 seats in Meghalaya, decreasing at least 16 seats than 2018.
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