Biplab Deb's 'Outsiders' Jibe, Several CM Contenders: Dissent Brewing In Tripura BJP Against Manik Saha?

Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb has claimed that 'outsiders' were running the state and even though he did not specify anybody, it is an open secret that he has been unhappy with Chief Minister Manik Saha, who joined the saffron party in 2016. In a significant move after such a comment, Deb also met BJP National General Secretary BL Santosh in Delhi this week. He was also absent from the state executive meeting of the party held this Monday. The meeting was held to prepare the party for the next year’s Lok Sabha polls.

Not only Biplab, but Union Minister Pratima Bhowmik, who has been with the party since the 1990s, is also not happy with the state of affairs in the party. Pratima was reportedly hesitant to sit on the dais during the state executive meeting but later joined after party state in-charge Mahesh Sharma insisted. Pratima, who also aspires to be the chief minister, had to resign from her Dhanpur seat after she failed to convince the party's central leadership which, as expected, selected Manik as the chief minister again this year. 

After suddenly being removed from the post of chief minister last year by the party's central leadership, Biplab Deb has been trying to get into state politics but hasn’t been quite successful as Manik, who with the backing of the central leadership has been able to consolidate his strength. 

His non-controversial image is seen as an advantage for the party and the government. His statements urging party workers and supporters not to attack the Opposition party workers and supporters although didn’t stop political violence, lessened the violence and this has only boosted his image among the common people of the state. 

This development is a warning for the saffron party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year and that is the reason the central leadership has swung into action to mitigate the anger of Biplab. 

This dissent is mainly due to internal power struggle within the party as there are many chief ministerial contenders including the state party president Rajib Bhattacharjee, who is also associated with the party since the 1990s. Since the saffron party came to power in 2018, it has been facing internal bickering leading to the removal of Biplab last year by the central leadership and this has only weakened the organisational strength of the party as evident in this year’s assembly elections, in which the party returned to power but with a reduced tally and seat share. 

Manipur Violence Questioning Efficiency Of BJP’s 'Double-Engine Government' Slogan

This week fresh violence hit the northeastern state of Manipur. An angry mob of Meitei Manipuris pelted stones on the house of Inner Manipur Lok Sabha MP and Union Minister Rajkumar Ranjan Singh a day after a Meitei was killed by militants in the Bishnupur district. This week the house of public works department Govind Konthoujam was also ransacked. 

The ethnic violence that rocked the state is refusing to die down. Already this violence has taken more than 70 lives and has displaced over 35,000 people from the state. The BJP has been in power in the state and the Centre. To date no Union minister has visited the state — although Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said he would visit next week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been silent on the horrific violence. However, Amit Shah, who was in Guwahati this week, appealed for peace in the state and has been meeting various stakeholders of the state over the last few days in Delhi.

The saffron party has proudly claimed that it has been giving special focus to the northeast region and even though this claim isn’t wrong, the horrific violence in the state of Manipur has left a deep scar on BJP’s governance model. The BJP, being in power at the state and the Centre, has the challenge to restore the state back to normalcy by taking the necessary constructive dialogues with all the stakeholders. The fresh incidents of violence indicate that the state is yet to see the return of complete normalcy even after three weeks of ethnic violence — and this definitely questions the efficiency of the BJP’s slogan of 'Double-Engine Government'.

CPM Preparing To Fight Against BJP And TIPRA Motha

This Monday the Tripura unit of CPI(M) held its state committee meeting which was attended by the party’s national General-Secretary Sitaram Yechury and party’s politburo member Prakash Karat. Another Politburo member to attend the meeting was former chief minister Manik Sarkar. This meeting assumed significance as this was the second state committee meeting within two months after the Left party failed to wrest its old bastion in the assembly elections held early this year.

The state meeting was held to review the ground reality and to prepare the party for the next year’s Lok Sabha polls. Learning from the setback in the assembly elections, the Left party has decided to fight not only against BJP but also against Pradyot Debbarma’s TIPRA Motha. Importantly, it is yet to decide whether it would continue the alliance with Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.

Though quite late, the party has learnt that its soft strategy towards Motha during the elections was wrong. Instead of strengthening its base in the hills, the party led by Jitendra Chaudhury believed that relying on Motha would bring it into power again. The party has now decided to counter both the Motha and the BJP in the hills to recover its lost base by intensifying its programs. Recovering its lost base is going to be a very challenging task as its organisation remains weak in the hills. It has to rejuvenate its tribal wing, Gana Mukti Parishad.

Another worry of the Left that was discussed in the state meeting is that it has been unable to attract youth in large numbers in its programmes, particularly after the election setback. To be fair, in the assembly elections, more than 50 per cent of the Left candidates were new faces. The Left is keen to continue with this trend to recover its lost ground by banking on new faces. That’s why it has decided to bring new faces at the state level by accommodating them into the state committee to attract new voters. However, only bringing new faces won’t be enough for the party. It also has to draw the right strategies.

The author is a political commentator. 

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