BJP marches into Nagaland, expands footprints across Christian bastion State

March 7, 2018 490 Views No Comment

Naga Republic News | Analysis —

With marginal political presence in the past in some pockets of Mon and Wokha district, the big story of Nagaland elections 2018 is the gradual and steady inroad the BJP has made in the Christian majority State. This despite public apprehension centered on the ‘Hindutva’ agenda that has been openly advocated by the right-wing Hindu organization, the RSS. The Church in Nagaland had even issued a strongly worded statement against such ‘forces’ in the run up to the elections.

While the BJP was expected to win a few seats in its past strongholds of Wokha district and Eastern Nagaland region, this time the saffron party won significant victories for the first time in Mokokchung and Zunheboto districts, winning two seats each. In Wokha district it won 2 seats.

In fact in Mokokchung District, recognized as the cradle of Christianity in Nagaland, the saffron outfit has returned with 100% success rate. Of the 2 candidates it fielded, from 29 Jangpetkong AC and 30 Alongtaki AC, both won the election.

The BJP’s inroad into Central Nagaland (Mokokchung, Wokha and Zunheboto) with a total of 6 seats of the 12 it won is very significant indeed. It won another 2 seats from Dimapur district, the western part of the State, while it bagged 4 seats across Eastern Nagaland. Interestingly the BJP picked up one seat each from the ENPO districts of Mon, Tuensang, Longleng and Kiphire. The party had fielded a total of 8 candidates from the ENPO region.

In atleast another three seats, Pughoboto, Chizami and Atoizu, the BJP candidates lost with narrow margins. The BJP in Nagaland could have won more if it had contested in more seats.

From just one seat won in the last Assembly Elections in 2013 the BJP has jumped its tally to 12 in the just concluded elections. Seen here are the 12 BJP elected MLAs with Governor of Nagaland on March 6 after issuing letter of support for the formation of a government of the NDPP-BJP led Alliance

Interestingly, when the pre-poll alliance with the newly floated NDPP was announced by its central leaders, the state-level leaders had written to party chief Amit Shah, expressing resentment against the pre-poll alliance with the newly-floated NDPP and the 20 seats the BJP had been given.

According to BJP leaders in the State the 20:40 seat-sharing pact between the BJP and the NDPP for the 60-member Assembly was not justified since it was the NDPP which had approached the saffron party for the alliance.

“The Nagaland BJP has about 45 potential intending candidates seeking party tickets,” the letter had said, while also pointing to the prospect of the saffron party gaining momentum in Nagaland with every passing day.

“We are confident of achieving a resounding success across the state, much better than the NDPP…In this context, it is very likely that if the seat-sharing agreement is taken up officially, it will have a highly negative impact on the current status of the party in Nagaland,” it said.

“Taking this into consideration, the Nagaland BJP cannot accept a pre-poll alliance with any party…we have, therefore, decided to fight the upcoming Assembly election without any pre-poll alliance and may opt for a post-poll alliance, based on necessity”, the letter had said.

At the ratio in which the BJP performed (better than the NDPP), the party could have easily won more seats. And at the rate in which the BJP is expected to further grow in Nagaland, it is actually the NDPP, which should be a little worried as the BJP could actually eat into its support base, more than that of the other regional outfit, the Naga Peoples Front (NPF).

In terms of geography and region, only the southern part of Nagaland, around the Tenyimi belt of Kohima, Phek and Peren districts, is still out of reach of the BJP. Both the NPF and NDPP are strong in these regions. In the rest of the State i.e. in north, east, west and central Nagaland, the BJP has started to make its presence felt with major gains in the just concluded elections.

And with major electoral gains made in the 2018 elections and its likely influence in the Rio led government, the BJP may expand further in years to come, unless regional parties—both the NPF and NDPP—are able to rein in the growth of the saffron outfit. It will be interesting to see how electoral politics spans out in the next few years.