BJP expects Ram Mandir to buoy its vote share across NE states

Agartala, Jan 27 (IANS) Though the January 22 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is likely to help the BJP attain electoral gains in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in a few northeastern states, particularly in Assam and Tripura, the saffron party is still much ahead of the Congress-led opposition INDIA bloc.

The organisational base of the Congress, which governed several northeastern states for many decades, started declining in the region after 2018 as the saffron party gradually took over the lost base of the grand old party. The BJP also strengthened its hold in the region ever since the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government came to power at the Centre in 2014.

After the Assembly elections in the five northeastern states in 2022 and 2023 – Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram – the Congress’ position has further weakened in the region, while the BJP has only bolstered.

Political pundits said that though the BJP is in an advantageous position in the electoral battle ahead of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, the Ram Mandir issue would definitely help the party in a few northeastern states, including Assam and Tripura, to consolidate its electoral strength.

“After the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya, the BJP would get electoral benefits in the upcoming general elections in Assam and Tripura and also in the Christian-dominated states to deal with their anti-incumbency factors,” political commentator Sekhar Datta told IANS.

He said the BJP would also try to gain electoral mileage by capitalising the NDA government’s developmental schemes implemented in the northeastern states since the Modi government came to power 10 years ago.

Datta said: “During the past 10 years, not only infrastructure development, the northeastern region also witnessed all-round development in all sectors besides taming of the decades long insurgency problems in most of the northeastern states. The BJP certainly focuses on these matters in a big way.”

Of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the eight northeastern states, currently 14 (56 per cent) are with the BJP while the Congress has 4 (16 per cent).

The other Lok Sabha seats are held by the local and regional parties.

In the 2019 parliamentary polls, the BJP in Assam increased its tally from 7 in 2014 to 9. Across northeast India, the BJP, which won eight seats in 2014, increased the seat tally to 14 in 2019.