No anti-incumbency factor against BJP, says ex-Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb

AGARTALA: Former Tripura Chief Minister and the BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Biplab Kumar Deb said that there is absolutely no anti-incumbency factor against the BJP or the Narendra Modi government in Tripura or the northeastern region.

If at all there are any small issues, these will subside when the people consider that Narendra Modi is India’s Prime Minister and the ‘Modi Guarantee’ exists, Deb said in an exclusive interview with IANS.

Modi is the first Prime Minister of this country to visit the NE states over 70 times, which is probably more than the total number of visits by all the former Prime Ministers before him, and he undertook a determined ‘Mission and Vision’ to develop the region at par with the rest of the country.

The Rajya Sabha member said that now over 10,000 youths from the NE states are involved with hundreds of start-ups and have created a Rs 1,000 crore economy in the region.

“Not only all round development of the region, PM Modi took many leaders from the northeastern states and made them Central ministers, and has given important responsibilities of other states,” said Deb, who is also the BJP in-charge for Haryana.

The PM addresses the entire NE region as ‘Ashta Lakshmi’. He has implemented dozens of schemes and projects to utilize the untapped resources of these states. “After Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, Narendra Modi is such a leader who can give the most effective directions to resolve any kind of problem and crisis,” he said. Deb even declared him next to God for the region, on which people can trust with their eyes closed.

The 53-year old Deb claimed that there is no strong opposition party in Tripura, and hence there is no major challenge in the Lok Sabha election from the opposition.

“My only challenge is to turn the opposition Communists and Congress leaders from negativity to positivity. What have they done after several decades in politics? They only befooled the people and always engaged them in various so-called agitations.” Of Tripura’s four million population, the tribals with 19 communities constitute one-third of the population, and out of the 60 assembly seats, twenty are reserved for the tribals, who belong to either the Hindu or Christian faiths.

Of the state’s two Lok Sabha seats, one - Tripura East - is reserved for the tribals, who have played a very vital role in the electoral politics of Tripura over the past seven decades.

Deb, referring to the development of ‘Janajati’ (tribals), said that the Congress, after Tripura’s first Chief Minister Sachindra Lal Singh (1963-1971) and second Chief Minister Sukhomoy Sengupta (1972-1977) never tried to strengthen its organizational base among the tribals and was dependent on the tribal based local parties.

Deb said that veteran CPI-M leader Nripen Chakraborty, the first Left Front government Chief Minister (1978 to 1988), after coming to Tripura from Kolkata set up the Left bases among the tribals along with veteran tribal leader Dasaratha Deb, who was also the Chief Minister for five years (1993 to 1998).

He said that the BJP in the 2018 and 2023 assembly polls put up the maximum number of candidates in the 20 tribal reserved assembly seats, leaving a few seats for ally IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura). The party (BJP) secured 10 and 6 seats, respectively. Deb assured that the communists will be nowhere in the politics, as they won’t be able to find a single candidature for their West Tripura LS seat.

Deb, the BJP candidate for the Tripura West seat, claimed that the Left had to seek support from decades-old arch-rivals Congress to sustain its political existence. Tripura Congress president Asish Kumar Saha is contesting in the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat as the INDIA bloc nominee, comprising eight parties including the CPI-M.

 “Earlier, they (CPI-M) never hoisted the National Flag at their party offices, but the present situation forced them to hoist the National Flag at their party offices. They always try to demoralize the people, while the BJP and PM Modi always take positive steps, encouraging people economically and otherwise and trying to make them cheerful.”

The ex-Tripura CM claimed that former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar (1998-2018) had no force to oust the Left from power but PM Modi led BJP government did it. “Now the Communists are talking about the Constitution, which they never did previously,” he added further.  (IANS)

Also Read: Congress-Left alliance will take Communists to ‘graveyard’: CM Biplab Kumar Deb (sentinelassam.com)

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