Palpable sense of insecurity among Tripura Manipuris
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: February 15, 2023 -

AS Tripura has a notorious history of witnessing violent clashes among hard-core supporters and members of different political organisations in the run-up to elections and intermittently even during the non-election years, there is every reason for the Manipuris settling in Tripura to comprehend post-poll retaliatory attacks if the outcome deviates from estimation of the major parties in the fray.

For the record, Tripura was once considered as the CPM's impregnable citadel but the collapse of the Manik Sarkar government like a house of cards in the face of people's desire for change in the last assembly elections testified that the BJP's narrative centred on development was more enticing than the Left's ideologies.

Then chief minister Manik Sarkar, who ruled Tripura since 1998, was known as an affable and austere figure and under him Tripura emerged as one of the best-administered states in the northeast where human development indicators like literacy, health, and cleanliness were better than many other bigger states.

However, Tripura, according to political analysts and economists, lacked economic prosperity as industries shunned the state in spite of Sarkar's attempts to aggressively woo them.

Unlike CPM, which had built its cadres and party infrastructure over decades, BJP was then a new political entrant to the state.

Till 2014, it was literally impossible to even think that BJP would ever be in the race to claim power in Tripura.

Thus, the saffron party's victory in Tripura was nothing short of a political miracle that has been made possible by sheer perseverance and political shrewdness.

Nevertheless, like in many elections conducted so far predicting the outcome, especially of state assemblies, had been never easy as anti-incumbency factor and ground reality falling short of pre-poll promises or general expectation of the adult franchisees often come into play.

With electoral triumph in Tripura, managing to cobble up post-poll alliance in Meghalaya and tasting victory with its pre-poll partner NDPP in Nagaland, the BJP has been fairly successful in showcasing that its campaign of wiping out the ageless Congress party from the northeast is not a pipedream as is evident from Mizoram remaining the only state in the region which is free from BJP clout.

This is exactly the reason why all major political parties, including the party in power, make it a point to incorporate better life and economic prosperity, among other enticements, of the states concerned in their election manifestoes and then hold their breath till the results start trickling in.

The same could be said about the upcoming elections in Tripura where the ruling BjP would be eyeing to retain power.

However, with the CPM-Congress combo managing to sort out seat-sharing deal and the royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarman-led TIPRA Motha speculated to play the role of king-maker, the fight for the BJP might be tougher this time around.

Amid such ifs and buts, and Tripura's history of politician-instigated violence, the sense of insecurity among the Tripura Manipuris, as could be comprehended from resentment expressed by Manipuri Council, Tripura and Tripura Manipuri Student-Youth Coordination Committee against politicisation of All Tripura Manipuri Convention-2023, is understandable considering the trend of defeated candidates' workers venting their angst on the softer targets.