CPM indulged in rigging, election after election: Sunil Deodhar

Sunil Deodhar, RSS pracharak who was deputed to BJP and who managed Narendra Modi's poll campaign in 2014 from Varanasi, was assigned another task in 2015: Mission Tripura. He talks to Amrita Madhukalya about the BJP's stunning entry into state, where in the last elections 49 of its 50 candidates lost deposits. Edited excerpts:

In the last elections, the BJP has a vote share of 6%. Today, it has taken over the Congress votebank, and might even win. What went behind it? Your critics say the BJP has money and muscle on its side.

See, faith cannot be created by money, it comes from people. There are two ways to win elections – by rigging, that was carried on here for the last 25 years, or, when there is an outcry from people. In Tripura, the CPM has never won elections honestly. There are instances of 25% polling by 2pm and then 97% by 9pm. People are not even allowed to go out of their homes. That alone proves that Manik Sarkar is is not an honest man.

The people were ready in 1998, in 2008, and, in 2013, but we were not there. It was the Congress, who because of its government in the Centre was never interested in Tripura. In 1993, when PV Narasimha Rao wanted to save his government, they needed the CPM. The people felt being cheated. The Congress lost its vote bank because they have no ideology or commitment.

We won Assam and that had a huge effect. But Mamata’s win in West Bengal did not affect the voters. We did agitations here, carried on the good work on the ground, and the biggest effect of demonetisation was felt here. In Barjala bypolls, the difference between the BJP and CPM was only 2000. It gave us hope.

You’ve moved to Tripura for the last three years to work on the elections. What do the people need the most? What are your key promises.

The law and order situation here is bad, and for any work to get done one needs to depend on a CPM worker; people are fed up. Even during the Congress rule things were not this bad. The CPM model is quite different.

We have promised CBI investigation into the chit fund scam where 12 lakh people lost their money as there were no Jan Dhan accounts for their small savings. The government deliberately set up these institutions. People here also felt the difference as well as for Central schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Awas, for Ujjwala, and all the other poverty alleviations schemes despite state government telling them that these are state schemes. Children in remote schools might not know Manik Sarkar’s name but know PM Modi.

BJP does not have a CM face. Will it depend on Modi wave here as well?

I’ve been here for three years and people have pleaded me to remove the CPM; they’re not interested in knowing who the CM candidate is. So, when we said “chalo paltai” (let’s change), it caught the imagination of the people because of a strong anti-incumbency. In the fish market nearby, I hear, a man said “chalo paltai” to see the other side of the fish, and people around him erupted in chants.

We did not have a CM face in in Uttar Pradesh and it worked wonders while in Himachal Pradesh where we declared a face, he lost.

IPFT’s statehood demand might create problems in future for the BJP...

IPFT felt the vacuum in the tribal areas where the CPM lost its support as they did nothing. The IPFT says that the Bengalis have discriminated against them and so they want a separate state. We’ve told them that the Bengalis are not to blame, it’s the CPM. Once you remove them from the equation you’ll get your lost land, language and pride back.

We say that every indigenous man must have a home and a job. Both IPFT and BJP need each other. So, we told them about the modality committee to study the socio-economic problems. It will be time-bound, and will be finished within one year. Till that time, IPFT won’t talk of Twipraland.

Here, we will convert district council to a state council and a budget will be demarcated for them, as we did for the Bodos in Assam. There will be direct funding to the Council, and Kokborok will be in the eighth schedule.