NIRENDRA DEV
Three northeastern states are to go to polls by February 2023. Meghalaya and Nagaland have been Congress bastions for long, while Tripura was a communist forte though the Congress was the principal opposition and the Rajiv Gandhi-Santosh Mohan Dev tandem had also brought the grand old party to power years ago.
The Congress does not have any legislator in Nagaland and in Tripura, the ‘revival journey’ is marked by return to the party fold by local stalwart Sudip Roy Barman.
The BJP’s Bardowali MLA (elected in 2018) Asish Kumar Saha also quit and joined Congress. In the bypolls, Saha lost to Chief Minister Manik Saha but Roy Barman returned to the assembly from Agartala assembly segment — as a Congressman but essentially retaining his forte.
Barman is working hard to ensure revival of the grand old party. “Who knows, the Congress revival may start from northeastern states and we may give a kickstart in Tripura,” Barman told IANS.
In neighbouring Meghalaya, state unit Congress chief H. Vincent Pala is also working hard and trying to revive the grand old party.
Congress stalwart Mukul Sangma has deserted the party and is today in Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress. In Nagaland too, state pradesh Congress chief K. Therie is keen to sweat it out. But he has issues and essentially organisational weaknesses across the state.
In 2018, funds crunch made him field only 18 candidates out of his original plans to field 60.
Things have not improved much on both — the fund system and organisational levels. A former Chief Minister K.L. Chishi announced in June that he will contest the polls on Congress ticket from Atouizu Assembly segment in the remote Zunheboto district.
However, the Congress has hardly seen any ‘revival’ journey in the Zunheboto district itself after such a personal announcement.
“K.L. Chishi is a time tested leader and is a known fighter. But things do not look very encouraging for Congress in the Zunheboto district itself,” says a local Congress party leader.
However, Congress state unit president Therie remains a steadfast anti-Neiphiu Rio leader and that certainly adds to his party’s strength in the electoral contest because a strong anti-incumbency mood now prevails in Nagaland against NDPP-BJP-NPF dispensation.
In the ultimate, doubts remain whether Congress can really field 50-60 candidates for the February polls.
Therie has gauged his limitations and thus he has given a clarion call for floating a ‘secular front’ against NDPP and the BJP.
He also says: “If BJP and alliance government wants a solution, just step down and ask government of India to implement the agreed Naga peace solutions. If not, tell them in a resolution adopted in the state assembly that we want elections on time.”
Doubts about the centre’s intent on whether elections will be held on time or not have started since Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Shillong and Agartala on December 18.
In fact, BJP office bearers and leaders from Nagaland were summoned to Shillong and that too after cancellation of national office bearers’ team meeting with Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on December 16.
This too did not help clear the cloud on the chances of delaying the polls. In other words, there was a more focused approach about the impending electoral battle in Meghalaya and Tripura and there should not be any doubt on BJP’s political mission in these two states.
In Tripura, paradoxically the Congress chances of revival are hidden in its cosy relationship with the Left parties. Recently, the Left Front of five communist parties and Congress issued a statement against the BJP.
The state Chief Minister Manik Saha has reacted to the development saying such alliance making ultimately will suit his party.
“The relationship between Congress and the Left Front is nothing new but today it just came out in front of the public. People were always fooled and confused by them. But now it is confirmed that people will not cast a vote for them. They should learn a lesson from West Bengal. They are making mistakes again and again. They are making mistakes as they have nothing else to offer,” Saha said.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, Congress and Left parties ended up losing all seats in West Bengal they contested and thus it became historical that one time Left’s proud bastion today has no communist legislator.
Not long ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had mocked Congress in Lok Sabha stating Nagaland as a state voted for Congress 24 years ago, Odisha 27 years ago, Goa 28 years ago, Tripura 34 years ago, and in West Bengal, people voted for Congress 50 years ago.
(Nirendra Dev is a New Delhi-based journalist. He is also author of books, ‘The Talking Guns: North East India’ and ‘Modi to Moditva: An Uncensored Truth’. Views are personal.)
