January 08, 2018: Kulai and Udaipur witnessed a mammoth turn out on Sunday last in BJP chief Amit Shah’s rallies. How many people attended the rallies is less important if one looks into the composition of crowd. On December 31 last, LF organized a rally in Agartala which also was huge. However, what made Amit Shah’s rally unique for BJP was presence of tribal and minority communities.
The rallies clearly indicated that Left leaders need to pay serious attention to get the confidence of tribal people and win supports of Muslim voters. If anyone claims that LF needs not to worry about – certainly that is bad suggestion. LF leaders need to work harder and focus on policies that hurt common people setting aside the concept of big industrialists and capitalists to regain the supposedly lost ground.
In Kulai Rally, tribal people attended in huge numbers and men-women-youths assembled at Rally venue from remote areas. People from Khowai, Dhalai, Unakoti and North Districts took part in the rally. Tribal people from West, Sepahijala, Gomati and South Districts made a noticeable presence. Similarly, minority people – mainly Muslims attended both the Kulai and Udaipur rallies in large numbers. Attendance of Muslim people in such a large number is remarkable.
So long CPIM had undisputed clout over the tribal communities. In last Assembly Polls, CPIM won in 19 seats out of total 20 seats reserved for Schedule Tribes while Congress bagged one. Similarly, Muslims were considered to be Left supporters, particularly after BJP emerged as an alternative and Congress had gone into oblivion.
However, yesterday’s rallies of Amit Shah upturned all the calculations. It is now obvious that there is massive erosion among the tribal and Muslims favouring BJP. With probable Poll understanding with IPFT, there is possibility of one-to-one contest in ST reserved seats between Leftists and BJP. “Certainly a direct contest will brighten up chances of BJP in hill areas”, opined an Agartala based Political analyst.
It appears, minority voters have also delivered a blow and Leftists need to reconsider their strategies. Even though there was nothing significant in Amit Shah’s speeches except thundering against Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and mentioning about CBI probe into Rose Valley scam, if BJP is voted into power.
