Seeing Off Red

Meet Sunil V. Deodhar, the brain behind the BJP’s campaign against the left

- Rabi Banerjee

Tripura, though a small state, is big on history. It was in its capital, Agartala, that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman planned the formation of Mukti Bahini, an armed resistance movement for Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan. When Rahman came to India, he was helped by Congress’s Sachindra Lal Singh, the first chief minister of Tripura.

The 1971 war saw a crore Bangladeshis cross over to Tripura, and Singh, originally from Bihar, provided them with refuge. After the Bangladesh war, most refugees returned, but a majority of Hindus stayed back. Today, Hindus account for around 65 per cent of the state’s population.

The Congress’s role in the Bangladesh war ensured that Tripura remained its turf, but not for long. In 1978, the CPI(M) took over, thanks to the resentment among the tribals and also as an aftereffect of the Marxists coming to power in West Bengal in 1977. History, it seems, is all set to repeat itself, although with a saffron tinge. The BJP is making inroads into the state, riding on the wave of resentment among the tribals and the youth owing to lack of jobs and growth and low per capita income.

The BJP has been focusing on the northeast ever since it came to power in 2014. And, as Tripura goes to the polls on February 18, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to ensure its victory—party president Amit Shah has already addressed a rally, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be far behind.

Three years ago, the CPI(M), the ruling party since 1993, had won all the seats in the Autonomous District Council elections, which comprises 28 of the 60 assembly seats in Tripura. But today, it finds itself out of favour. The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), a BJP ally, launched a massive protest for a separate state, saying the left did nothing for them. “Undoubtedly, the BJP is behind the agitation. They have an agenda for the state,” said Congress leader Gopal Roy.