Mizoram Elections: Former Speaker Lalrinliana Sailo’s Joining Is A Boost For BJP

Former Speaker of the Mizoram Assembly Lalrinliana Sailo (Photo: DIPR)

Former Speaker of the Mizoram Assembly Lalrinliana Sailo joined the BJP in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister of Nagaland Y Patton. He resigned as the Speaker earlier this week after he was denied a ticket by the ruling MNF. In the last election, he won from the Chalfilh seat as the MNF candidate by defeating ZPM’s F Rualhleia and Congress’s H T Hrangchal in a three-corner fight.

Sailo’s statement supporting MNf’s merger with BJP this April during his visit to the United States didn’t go well with the party leadership. It was due to this statement that the party decided not to allot him the ticket.

According to the Mizoram Post, the state’s leading English daily, Sailo wants to contest from the Mamit assembly constituency, although the BJP leadership is yet to decide on this. Nevertheless, this defection is definitely a boost for the saffron party that is looking to increase its presence in the Christian Mizo-dominated northeastern state. Sailo’s joining comes days after former state minister K Beichhua, who was expelled by the MNF, was inducted into the BJP.

In the last assembly election, the saffron came third in Mamit by securing 23.31% votes — an increase of more than 22% by eating into NCP and Congress votes. Then MNF’s winning candidate got 12% more votes than the saffron party while the Congress bagged 33.29% votes. The results of both 2013 and 2018 polls suggest that while the MNF has a stable vote bank of at least 30%, it was the Congress, which lost a section of its votes in the 2018 elections.

There is an opportunity for the BJP to win in this constituency, which has a sizeable ethnic Bru minority population. For this, it has to eat more into the Congress’s votes in this constituency. This situation increases the chances of the saffron party giving a ticket to a heavyweight like Sailo, who was once a Congress legislator, to win this constituency. 

Israel-Hamas War And Assam Politics?

The Israel-Hamas conflict has landed in Assam’s politics, with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma criticising the Congress Working Committee’s resolution for not condemning the Hamas for its attack on Israel. Addressing reporters in Jorhat, Sarma, who is also the convenor of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance, even went on to ridicule the Grand Old Party by asking if it really wants to form a government in India or Pakistan. State Congress president Bhupen Borah shot back and called him a liar.

The first statement from the Congress leader Jairam Ramesh was that the party condemns brutal attacks on the people of Israel. The CWC resolution, however, fails to call the Hamas terrorists and focuses on the Palestine issue with the resolution clearly emphasising the party’s support of Palestinian people’s right to land and self-government. This has also created a rift within the Congress. Agree that the Palestine issue is an important one but Congress's failure to term Hamas as 'terrorists' is definitely going to harm the image of the party.

But Himanta’s statement was aimed not only at escalating the internal divisions within the grand old party, but also at the majority Hindu population of his state. After all, the gruesome killings of Israelis, including babies, by Hamas terrorists have not only earned condemnations from Israelis but from people across the world. This includes a section of Indians. The Congress’s silence on Hamas is really puzzling — and is done keeping in mind the Muslim electorate. By highlighting this, Himanta and the BJP are trying to convey to the Hindus that vote-bank politics is preventing the Congress from condemning terrorists. This is an attempt to polarise the Hindu voters to reap electoral benefits in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the northeastern state.

Conrad Sangma At Tipra Motha's Rally A Pressure Politics Tact?

On Mahalaya, a state holiday, Pradyot Debbarma’s TIPRA Motha is holding a big rally in Khumulwng, the state headquarters of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC). The rally is to garner support for the demand of Greater Tipraland state for tribals.

Interestingly, Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People’s Party president Conrad Sangma is going to be present at the rally. NPP, one of the six national parties of the country, is a constituent of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance at the Centre. In Meghalaya, where it leads the coalition government, the saffron party is a constituent and has one minister in the state Cabinet.

Some analysts are viewing this as an attempt to showcase regional unity, maybe to build a regional platform. It has to be mentioned that in 2021 Pradyot attended the workers of the Luringjyoti Gogoi-led Assam Jatiya Parishad. In that meeting, both Pradyot and Gogoi had called for the formation of a new regional alliance. It has been two years now but this call is yet to materialise into a regional alliance. Also, it seems unlikely for the NPP to quit the NDA. Conrad Sangma shares a good bond with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. 

Actually, this rally is aimed to showcase the strength of Tipra Motha in order to create pressure on the BJP-led  Modi government ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to grant some of his political demands, which are feasible, as Pradyot himself knows that the demand of Greater Tipraland isn't going to materialise. By inviting Sangma, Motha aims to garner the attention of regional and national media so as to convey its message to BJP's Delhi leadership. It knows that the fight isn't going to be easy for the BJP to retain the Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency, which is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.  

Amid this, the state Congress leaders have adopted a soft approach towards the Motha. Importantly, Pradyot too has reiterated recently that he has no issue with the national leadership of Congress, particularly with the Gandhi family. The saffron party will certainly don't want Pradyot's Motha allying with the Congress. Pradyot also knows this. As a result of this, the state is witnessing pressure politics — and this rally is a part of this.

The author is a political commentator.

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