GUWAHATI
The Congress in poll-bound Nagaland has called for a “secular alliance” against the Bharatiya Janata Party in keeping with the trend elsewhere in the country.
The pitch for a secular front has apparently been inspired by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s “Mission 2024” to unite all Opposition parties against the BJP for the next Lok Sabha elections. The elections to the 60-member Nagaland Assembly are expected by February 2023.
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The Congress, which ruled the State for almost 15 years during its worst phase of extremism, was wiped out in the 2018 polls. But the bid of the Opposition parties and some former allies of the BJP to “save the country from divisive, right-wing politics” seems to have given the party a fresh lease of life in Nagaland.
“All likeminded parties in the nation are coming together to remove the BJP from power. There is no reason why Nagaland should be immune to this development,” the State’s Congress president, Kewekhape Therie said on September 12.
Congress leaders in the State pointed out that parties such as Janata Dal (United) and Shiv Sena have drifted away from the BJP in order to make the secular alliance stronger. There are similar signs in the northeast, particularly between the BJP and the National People’s Party in Meghalaya, they said.
“Any party, including the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), may join us if they have a secular outlook,” Mr. Therie said. With 42 legislators, the NDPP heads the Opposition-less Nagaland government where the BJP is a minor partner. The other regional party in the alliance is the Naga People’s Front.
Bihar and the evolution of Mandal politics
Regional allies of the BJP in the other north-eastern States, specifically in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura where elections are due in 2023, have been rethinking about their alignment since the JD(U) severed ties with the BJP and formed the government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Jharkhand Chief Minister, Hemant Soren’s survival of the trust vote was another factor, as was West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s announcement to “work together” with Mr. Kumar, Mr. Soren and Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav.
