Soaring Saffron, Sickly Hammer

BJP’s stunning show in Tripura leaves CPI(M) in tatters, while its manoeuvres in Nagaland and Meghalaya reshape politics in the northeast. Here is how Narendra Modi’s trusted lieutenants brought about the paradigm shift

- Rabi Banerjee

Three years ago, Sunil Deodhar met Narendra Modi in Delhi. The portly BJP leader from Pune knew the prime minis-ter well—he had run Modi’s campaign in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat a year earlier.

Deodhar had returned after spending six months in Tripura, where he had taken charge of party affairs. He came to Modi bearing glad tidings. He said he would sweep the ruling CPI(M) off Tripura, and gift it to Modi. The prime minister reportedly burst out laughing. “First, you lose at least 20kg,” Modi said. “Only then can you even think of sweeping Tripura.”

Three years since, Deodhar has lost weight—but only around 5 kilos. In terms of his influence, though, he is now a heavyweight. By uprooting the CPI(M), which had been ruling Tripura since 1993, he has pulled offa victory that was thought to be impossible.

The BJP also sprang a surprise in Christian-dominated Nagaland, winning 12 of 20 seats it contested. And, despite winning just two seats in Meghalaya, it took the lead in forming government. The BJP’s stunning show in the northeast has rattled its rivals in West Bengal and Kerala— two states the party has long been eyeing.

For the CPI(M), the defeat in Tripura is especially crushing, since this was the party’s first head-to head battle with the BJP in an assembly election. Unlike in West Bengal, where a series of administrative missteps ended the left government’s 34-year rule in 2011, the Manik Sarkar government in Tripura was perceived to have performed well. “I would never do mistakes like [the party did] in Bengal,” Sarkar told THE WEEK in 2016. “Yes, I will try to change the lives of the people, and for that, some drastic measures are needed. But, I will not do anything to antagonise the people.”