Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
The ruling BJP has won a clear majority in the Tripura assembly elections, while the NDPP-BJP alliance won in Nagaland. On the other hand, no party has got a clear majority in Meghalaya. There, the ruling NPP led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has emerged as the single largest party and is going to form the government once again with the support of the BJP.
After this victory, while addressing party workers at the BJP headquarters in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the voters of the three states and lashed out at the opposition parties. Modi said, ‘When some people are wishing to dig Modi’s grave, raising slogans of Modi teri kabr khudegi, then the people of the North-East chose the lotus. The lotus continues to bloom. Some people also do dishonesty with bigotry and these bigots say ‘Mar ja Modi’, but the country is saying ‘don’t go Modi’.
Modi said, ‘BJP has won the hearts of the people of the North-East. Now Delhi is not far from the North-East, nor is the North-East far from the hearts. I am surprised that after the North-East election results, EVMs have not been abused till now.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that till now it was being spread that minority brothers do not vote for BJP, but the election results have made it clear that all sections of the country are supporting the mantra of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’. Christians in Meghalaya and Nagaland have also supported our party.
PM Modi also targeted Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, who said on the election results that all the three North-East states are small and their results do not matter that much. Modi said, ‘Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is saying that these are small states. This is an insult to the people of North-East. Because of this mentality, the Congress party is continuously losing elections.
The Prime Minister said that earlier the BJP was called the ‘Bania Party’ and the ‘Party of the Hindi Belt’, but the people of the North-East have now accepted the BJP. PM Modi promised that one day the BJP government will be formed in Kerala as well.
In Tripura, the BJP won 32 of the total 60 seats in the assembly. In Nagaland, BJP won 12 of the total 60 seats in the assembly, while its ally National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) managed to win 25 seats. In this way the BJP alliance got a clear majority in the assembly. Meanwhile, in Meghalaya, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party (NPP) won 26 seats while the BJP managed to win two seats. In the 60-seat assembly, Konrad Sangma is going to form the government with the support of some other small parties.
On the other hand, if we talk about Congress, it could not even open its account in Nagaland while it could win only five seats in Meghalaya. In Tripura, Congress got only three seats while its ally CPM could win only 11 seats. In Tripura, a new regional party, the Tipra Motha Party, won 13 seats. The party is headed by Pradyot Dev Burman, the ruler of the former Tripura princely state.
Modi hits the spot and knows very well how to convert the attacks on him into opportunities. Yesterday there was an opportunity, there was an atmosphere and there was also a custom. That’s why Modi settled all the accounts. He told the Congress that the states which the Congress considers small, today those same states have made the Congress ‘small’. In the North East, where the Congress used to speak, today the Congress has been cleared.
This electoral victory of BJP in the North-East is the result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s long-term strategy. In 2014, when Modi became the Prime Minister of the country, at that time there was no BJP government in any state of the North-East. Only in Arunachal Pradesh, in 2003, BJP formed the government for a short period of time. After that BJP did not have much existence in the Northeast. When Modi became the Prime Minister, he focused on the development of the North-East. Efforts started to connect this area with the mainstream of the country. As a result, the first BJP government was formed in Assam, the largest state of the Northeast. Here the BJP was successful in forming the government for the second time in a row. Now in Tripura also BJP has registered victory again.
At present, BJP and its allies are in power in six of the eight states of the North-East. This is a big deal. Some people may say that even if all the states of the North-East are merged, we cannot compete with any big state, so what will be the political advantage of winning and forming the government in the North-East.
But I think this victory of BJP in North-East will have political advantage. Firstly, BJP will come out of the old image of the party of Hindi speaking states. Secondly, there are 25 Lok Sabha seats in the North-East. In the next Lok Sabha elections, if the BJP suffers a slight loss in other states, then it will be compensated from the North-East. That’s why BJP’s victory in these states of North-East has great significance.
Now the question is, why did the Congress, which once had a strong hold in the North-East, suffer so badly? Why was the Congress wiped out in all the three states? The main reason for this is the casual approach of the party. Trying to understand North East sitting from Delhi. Neither talking nor listening to the local leadership. The latest example of this is Pradyot Dev Barman, the head of the Tipra Motha Party, who has been the former ruler of Tripura and is also the President of the Tipra Motha Party. The Congress high command did not listen to him. After being humiliated, he had to leave the Congress.
In an interview on India TV soon after the results of the Tripura assembly elections, Pradyot Dev Barman said, “If Congress has to fight BJP, Rahul Gandhi will have to change his mind, he will have to change his advisors.” Instead of the leaders who defeat the elections sitting at home, one has to listen to the leaders who work on the ground, only then the Congress can be benefited. Otherwise, the Bharat Jodo Yatra will be of no use.
But the Congress is still not ready to understand this. Congress leaders are saying that Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya lost due to local issues. In Tripura, the Left Front vote did not transfer to the Congress, while in Meghalaya, Mamata’s TMC indirectly supported the BJP by undercutting the Congress vote. That’s why Congress got defeated.
After the election results were out on Thursday, Mamata Banerjee said that her party would not join any alliance for next year’s Lok Sabha elections. He said, “Those who want to defeat the BJP should support us.”
In Tripura, Mamata’s party failed to open its account despite securing less than one per cent votes. On the result of Bengal’s Sagardighi assembly by-election, he said that Congress-CPM and BJP had formed a behind-the-scenes alliance to defeat Trinamool, so his party lost the election.
Mamta Banerjee said, ‘If you count the votes of BJP, you will see that they had 22 percent votes. This time he transferred his vote to Congress. Congress got 13 percent more votes this time. BJP’s vote went to Congress. CPM-Congress is together and BJP’s vote was also transferred to Congress. Congress candidate Byron Biswas defeated Trinamool’s Debashish Banerjee by a margin of around 23,000 votes in the Sagardighi assembly bypoll, while BJP candidate Dilip Saha came third. He got 25,793 votes. The defeat in the Muslim-dominated Sagardighi assembly seat is certainly a setback for Mamata Banerjee. ,Rajat Sharma,
Watch: Aaj Ki Baat with Rajat Sharma full episode 02 March 2023