Men who steered the campaign
HT takes a look at the four men who helped the BJP achieve a historic win in the northeastern states
RAM MADHAV BJP general secretary, in charge, north-east
ROLE: A key networker capable of straddling territories that would seem disparate even to politicians with a penchant for alliances, Ram Madhav, 53, was busy driving the youth connect of the BJP’S ideological parent, the RSS, in 2014. That is when he was sent by the Sangh to work in the party, shortly after it had won the general election with an absolute majority. As the man in charge of the Sangh’s publicity and the head of its key publications, Madhav had repackaged the RSS’S message for young people without diluting its ideological content. He brought in a flexibility (weekend shakhas, online enrolment) aimed at attracting the young. In the BJP, Madhav’s tech-savvy and modern election management style has fit in well with the party’s attempt to modernise itself. As the man responsible for forging the alliance with the North East Democratic Alliance, he has managed to repackage what the party represents in the north-east. As a result, the BJP has increased its footprint
KIREN RIJIJU Minister of state, home affairs
ROLE: As minister of state for home affairs at the Centre, Kiren Rijiju is considered the face of the north-east in the Narendra Modi government. For someone who studied in Delhi for his graduation and then became a lawyer, Rijiju plays the bridge between the capital and his home state, Arunachal Pradesh. As Nagaland in charge for his party, he pitched for linking the prosperity of the state with peace. Much before Himanta Biswa Sarma joined the BJP, it was Rijiju who had taken it upon himself to help the BJP expand its footprint in the north-east after it won the 2014 Lok
Sabha polls. At one point, the
Congress even accused him of trying to destabilise “democratically elected” governments in the north-east.
In 2009, after he lost as the
BJP’S candidate from Arunachal
West, he quit the party to join the Congress. He returned two years later, when Nitin Gadkari took over as the party chief
HIMANTA BISWA SARMA Minister for finance, health and education, Assam
ROLE: When former Assam Congress heavyweight Himanta Biswa Sarma left the then ruling party and its state government in August 2015 for the BJP, the saffron party’s expansion plan in the north-east got a major fillip. BJP leaders knew they were not just winning over an Assam leader capable of helping the party win power in the largest state in the region, but a resourceful alliance-builder with an extensive network of political contacts in significant local parties across different states. Sarma, 49, holds the important portfolios of health, education and finance in the Sarbananda Sonowal government, but is clearly the face of the BJP in the entire region. The results in Tripura — where Sarma as state in-charge helped the
BJP emerge from the position of a non-player to the main challenger to Manik Sarkar’s well entrenched CPI(M) government after he got the entire Tripura unit of the Congress to merge with the BJP — bear witness to
Sarma’s efforts
SUNIL DEODHAR BJP in charge, Tripura
ROLE: A former RSS full-timer, 52-year-old Sunil Deodhar is being credited for anchoring the BJP’S electoral campaign in the Left bastion of Tripura. Deodhar’s poll management skills during the campaign in Varanasi, Prime Minister Modi’s constituency, which he was responsible for during the 2014 general elections, was the reason why party president Amit Shah picked him for the job. In Tripura, which the BJP won convincingly, Deodhar dovetailed the traditional campaigning style of the RSS-BJP — strengthening the cadre and intensifying outreach through door-to-door campaigns — with the modern canvassing mediums of social media.
In a state that had been ruled by the CPI(M) for a quarter of a century, the
BJP projected itself as the alternative that would change the fate of the state and its
people