The by-poll results in Tripura sparked a huge celebration in the saffron camp while a sombre mood prevailed in the CPIM headquarters in Agartala on Friday.
Exchanging pleasantries and greetings in the rhythm of the Drum beatings and distribution of laddus dominated the celebration in the BJP State Party Office in Agartala. Many of the supporters and leaders played Holi. The spirit in the Party office was overwhelming.
The victory of the BJP is crucial from a socio-political aspect – particularly in Boxanagar where most of the voters are Muslims. The victory of BJP’s Toffajal Hussain from the Muslim-dominated Boxanagar made him the first elected Muslim MLA of the Saffron Party in Tripura.
While BJP party leaders and workers were cherishing the victory, the CPIM State Party Office wore a deserted look. Immediately after the formal declaration of by-poll results, Leftists issued a statement saying that the results “vindicated the allegation of the Left Front that, the election in both the constituencies was totally rigged and reduced to mockery of democracy in the name of elections”. However, deep frustration and sadness gloomed over, the once bustling CPIM Office.
Celebrating the overwhelming success, a vibrant victory rally with the victorious BJP candidates – Bindu Debnath (Dhanpur) and Toffajal Hussain (Boxanagar) – roamed around the city today evening. Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha and BJP State president Rajib Bhattacharjee and ex-Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma along with other party leaders also took part in the rally.
Prior to the rally, Bhattacharjee and Dr Saha held a press meeting and expressed gratitude to voters of Boxanagar and Dhanpur Assembly Constituencies for resounding and overwhelming support to saffron candidates. Both also thanked party leaders, activists, MPs, MLAs and Ministers who campaigned hard for the party candidates.
Notably, in the by-polls, BJP’s candidate from Boxanagar Toffajal Hussain thrashed the CPIM candidate by a margin of 30,237 votes while Bindu Debnath of BJP defeated his CPIM rival by a margin of 18,871 votes. In the 2023 Assembly polls, CPIM’s Samsul Haque (who later died of cardiac arrest) won the Boxanagar seat but in Dhanpur, BJP’s Pratima Bhoumik was victorious who later resigned necessitating by-polls.
Commenting on Toffajal’s massive and landslide victory, Dr Saha said the people of Boxanagar which was lagging behind in terms of development relied on the BJP candidate this time. The people of the Muslim-dominated Boxanagar realized the vision of Prime Minister Modi and believed that the State Government was working in line with the PM’s vision that emphasised development for all communities.
He also attributed the joining of Congress leader Billal Mia and brother of CPIM’s influential veteran leader Sahid Choudhury in BJP as crucial factors.
Overall, in Boxanagar and Dhanpur by-polls, the voters knew that whatever the results of the vote, the Government would not change – so, decided in numbers to rally behind the ruling party candidates which resulted in the phenomenal victory of Toffajjal Hussain and Bindu Debnath. He also rubbished CPIM’s allegations of irregularities and said the by-polls were peaceful and people voted in true spirit.