BJP’s stellar win in Tripura: Major takeaways, possible reasons

The winning margins, especially in a state like Tripura where margins are typically not high, were significant. In the 2019 Parliamentary elections, the BJP won these two seats with a margin of over 5 lakh and around 4.8 lakh votes.

However, in keeping with the rather underwhelming saffron performance across the country, the BJP did not succeed in restricting the INDIA bloc to 1 lakh votes as widely touted during the campaign. Opposition political parties were fairly successful in organising rallies and public meetings, all credits to the united effort to fight the ruling dispensation. Its failure to defeat the BJP, however, has more factors than one.

BJP candidate and member of Tripura’s former Manikya royal family, Kriti Devi Debbarman, emerged victorious from the East Tripura ST-reserved constituency with a lead of 4,86,819 votes over the closest contender, Rajendra Reang, the CPIM candidate from the INDIA bloc, who received 2,90,628 votes.

Kriti Singh Debbarma is a ‘Maharajkumari’ or princess of the erstwhile Manikya royal family. She is the youngest daughter of the late Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya and the sister of TIPRA Motha founder and royal scion-turned-politician Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma.

Her appointment, which sparked questions from the opposition camp, especially since she had no political history in the state, came a fortnight after the central government signed a tripartite agreement with the state government of Tripura and the TIPRA Motha party. The agreement aimed to find an “honourable solution” to “amicably resolve” all issues of the indigenous people of Tripura related to history, land rights, political rights, economic development, identity, culture, language, etc. Her appointment also came just days after Motha joined the BJP in the state government.

Kriti Singh Debbarma attended Loreto Convent in Shillong for her schooling. In 1998, she completed a diploma course in Environmental Education at the Centre for Environmental Education in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In 1999, she pursued her Management Appreciation Programme for Voluntary Agencies and Senior Management & Rural Development Course at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) in Gujarat. Additionally, she served as an animal welfare officer in Shillong, Meghalaya, from 1992 to 1994.

She is a renowned environmentalist and agriculturalist who has been involved with various NGOs to advocate for environmental preservation and awareness of sustainable development in the Northeast. She has actively promoted water management, watershed development, and rural development projects in the Panna district of Madhya Pradesh. In addition to her work as an agriculturalist in Madhya Pradesh, she focuses on organic farming, horticulture, and the breeding and preservation of indigenous cattle breeds.

She currently manages a heritage hotel called Palace Kawardha in Kawardha, Chhattisgarh. She is married to Yogeshwar Raj Singh, the royal heir of the former royal family of Kawardha Raj in Chhattisgarh.

Her nomination was not much of a surprise, as Pradyot Kishore had recently mentioned that he would ensure that someone from his own group would be sent to Delhi from the East Tripura ST-reserved seat. This was to ensure that a tripartite agreement signed between the Government of India, the state government, and the TIPRA Motha party to find an “honourable solution” to the problems faced by the tribals of Tripura wouldn’t be obstructed. He also emphasised that he believed the party symbol was not as important as choosing the right person to pursue the agreement.

In her first election, Kriti Devi Debbarma has defeated seasoned politician and former legislator Rajendra Reang. Meanwhile, former chief minister, BJP heavyweight, and Rajya Sabha MP Bilab Kumar Deb has won the Lok Sabha polls in the West Tripura Parliamentary constituency. He emerged victorious over his nearest contender, the state Congress president Ashish Kumar Saha, with a margin of 6,11,578 votes.

Biplab Kumar Deb, who led the political fight against the former communist government and headed Tripura’s first BJP-led state government in 2018, was removed from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in 2022. He was replaced by his once close aide, Dr Manik Saha. Later, Deb was appointed as a Rajya Sabha MP and responsible for being the party’s observer for Haryana.

The royal factor has always been influential in Tripura’s politics. Pradyot Kishore and Kriti Devi Debbarma’s parents, the late Kirit Bikram Manikya Debbarma and Bibhu Kumari Devi, were both Parliamentarians. The latter also served as a minister in the Congress-Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti (TUJS) coalition government from 1988 to 1993.

Pradyot Kishore had a long tenure with the Congress, even serving as the state Congress president before resigning in 2019 due to disagreements over the Citizenship Amendment Act, which was then a bill in the Parliament. In 2021, he founded his own TIPRA Motha party and achieved a landslide victory in the Tripura ADC polls two months later. Two years after forming his party, he emerged as the primary opposition party in the assembly, thanks to his personal charisma and royal background.

Naturally, nominating his sister, Kriti Devi Debbarma, as the BJP candidate in the East Tripura ST-reserved constituency was a significant move. It is worth mentioning Biplab Kumar Deb’s considerable popularity, which continued to draw crowds during Lok Sabha campaigns even after he had been out of power in the state government for two years.

After the results came out, both Biplab Kumar Deb and Kriti Devi Debbarma credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP’s central and state leadership, and electors for their victory. They stated that they would work for the welfare of the people of the state in their capacity as Parliamentarians. Deb said he would further ongoing work on establishing more medical colleges, health centers, and spiritual tourism in Tripura.

Critics feel the opposition’s choice of candidates could have been better.

CPIM candidate Rajendra Reang who lost to Kriti Devi Debbarma is a CPIM state committee leader and a former MLA from Kanchanpur assembly constituency, where he was elected in 2018, He also earlier served as Executive Member in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC). His father Sarbajoy Reang was killed by armed insurgents.

However, poll watchers point out that legendary Left leader Dasharath Dev, who later became Chief Minister of Tripura in 1993, was defeated by Pradyot Kishore’s father, the late Kirit Bikram Kishore Debbarma, in 1967. Certainly, with a ‘royal’ in the play, a more heavyweight leader could have been chosen for the seat, according to critics.

On the other hand, Ashish Kumar Saha has been a strong organiser and election contender for a long, but he has had two consecutive losses to Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha at Bardowali assembly constituency, which once used to be Ashish Kumar Saha’s home turf. A veteran political watcher said several senior Congress leaders like Sudip Roy Barman, who has been a minister, opposition leader in the past, a serving Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and someone who held onto his home turf – Agartala assembly segment even when he left the BJP in its peak in 2022, could have been chosen for the job.

Though the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has so far claimed the Lok Sabha poll process has been rather peaceful in Tripura, including the counting process, INDIA bloc partners CPIM and Congress have alleged gross violation of election guidelines during the polling and counting process.

In a press statement, the CPI(M) state committee said this evening, “The results have reflected the apprehensions that arose from a protracted phase of violence, massive abuse of money and administrative machinery to create an unnatural political situation, creating roadblocks for opposition campaigns, stopping electors from turning up at polling centers, etc. since before the Parliamentary elections were even announced. The united effort of the CPI(M) and INDIA bloc to restore democracy by contesting in the elections was not reflected in the numbers that emerged from the results.

The CPI(M) also said that the issues of unemployment, shortage of food and work, corruption, and a purportedly poor law and order situation that formed the mainstay of the opposition campaign didn’t reflect in the results.

State Congress president Ashish Kumar Saha, who himself contested and lost to Biplab Kumar Deb, alleged that gross violations of ECI guidelines during counting hours and said that opposition counting agents were assaulted in some places, denied entry into counting halls in others.

Saha said he had sought intervention from the returning officer to ensure a free and fair counting process but alleged that RO has “utterly failed” in his job. He also said while the Congress is performing as per its expected result nationally, but the picture in Tripura is different. Democracy has been murdered and buried in Tripura, Saha alleged.

After results for both seats of Tripura were announced, state BJP president Rajib Bhattacharya termed the result “historic” and said, “This day is an important day for us. The results of the 18th Lok Sabha elections were announced. We have won two Lok Sabha seats in Tripura. We have also won the Ramnagar assembly by-election simultaneously as well. I want to express my gratitude to the people of Tripura”.

He rubbished allegations of malpractices raised by the opposition and said, “This is a victor of women, youths, workers and people from all walks of life. History has been created in Tripura today.”

Considering a history of electoral violence shared by Tripura in the past, leaders of all parties were seen making appeals to peace and tranquillity.

Reacting to the results, BJP’s Tripura ruling alliance partner TIPRA Motha supremo and royal scion-turned-politician Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, brother to Kriti Devi Debbarma, thanked electors for the victorious mandate but appealed to everyone to maintain peace.

“We used to lose before and today, we have won. Victory and loss are parts of democracy. Those who voted for CPIM, Congress, and Independent candidates are Tiprasa as well. Our fight is for the constitutional rights of the tribals of Tripura. If we fight amongst ourselves, it will be the loss of our community. There can be no party bigger than our community. I am watching the results coming in India. Our point of view is clear: we need rights, script, direct funding, and constitutional solutions. We shall negotiate it with our own point of view at Delhi. Now it is not the time to fight against brethren or do violence. If we have to go ahead, we have to speak in one voice as Tiprasa and stay united,” Pradyot Kishore said.

The CPI(M)urged the Election Commission to ensure peace is maintained and any effort to destabilise peace in the post-poll phase is thwarted.