Kamalpur/Khowai (Tripura), Feb 12: Amid the heat and dust of Tripura's most fiercely contested election, a large number of CPI-M cadres and supporters have shifted allegiance to the right wing BJP and many of them now openly attribute Sitaram Yechury-Mamata Banerjee axis during noteban protest for the scenario today. 
"The BJP was always ambitious to make deeper penetration into Tripura. But the communist orientation of Bengali middle class had made things difficult. But once Sitaram Yechury-Mamata Banerjee decided to forge an anti-Narendra Modi alliance during demonestisation protest. It heralded a new era," says traditional Left supporter Ranjan Das, a resident of Kamalpur announcing his decision to vote for BJP this year.
Others agree readily. In fact challenges before the BJP for deeper penetration into Tripura which houses substantial Hindu migrants from the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were too many and complex. The BJP and also the RSS strategists always realised that unlike the cow-belt northern state Uttar Pradesh where BJP could easily push the Ram Temple and other pro-Hindutva issues, in Tripura they would need 
to take up more mundane issues - jobs, women empowerment and industrialisation.
The saffron leaders always tried to reach out to intellectuals and middle class in Tripura essentially seeking to break the umbilical cord between the voters and the pro-Marxist intellectualism, but with little success.
Even the six former Congress MLAs - who joined BJP on the eve of polls and are now contesting on saffron outfit ticket - generally believed that real alternative to the communists could be from 'secular establishment' of Indian politics. It had to be Congress or Trinamool Congress.
"We all had rested immense faith in Trinamool Congress and Mamata Banerjee. We thought here was a party that will fight the leftists. But once Mamata Banerjee and Sitaram Yechruy had tele talks and decided to protest against noteban, we felt orphaned," Ashish Shah, BJP candidate in Bordwali seat in Agartala, told.
This sentiment is generally agreed by many former Left cadres too -- who have now decided to endorse the BJP.
Namita Das, a former CPI-M worker in a panchayat area in Khowai district, has now decided to support BJP.
"Sitaram Yechury-Mamata Banerjee coming together showed our fight on the ground would be always artificial.
I will fight against Trinamool Congress or Congress in my village, but up there in Delhi or Kolkata there will be a deal," she says rather angrily.
The voters in Tripura like West Bengal – due to intellectual affinity and perhaps due to overdose of Marxists' politics are essentially “pro-Left”. 
Local analysts say in nearby Assam, the BJP's acceptability had started long back even as the party might have faced initial hurdles in 1980s and 1990s - but those were more from a linguistic point of view as the saffron party those days used to be seen more as a 'pro-Hindi' language party. 
But in West Bengal and also in Tripura - the BJP strategists realised it time and again that even upper caste Hindus do not necessarily relate to the 'Brahminical appeal of the RSS'.
"Even the alleged kidnapping of RSS cadres from Tripura by militants during the Vajpayee government in the centre could not fetch any political dividends to the BJP or helped its organisational growth," says Jharna Pal, a resident of Khowai assembly segment.
But once the Congress or for that matter Trinamool Congress supporters and workers realised while others would never fight the Left tooth and nail, they looked forward towards BJP and were "convinced" that the "Bengali Hindu middle class intellectuals" can also support BJP.
"The election outcome in Tripura with Bengalis voting for BJP would be significant and can possibly also influence the electoral arithmetic in West Bengal," says Jharna Pal.
Tripura has an overwhelming presence of Bengali Hindus – who had to flee the then eastern Pakistan (read now Bangladesh) during partition in 1947 and also in 1971 during the Bangladesh war of liberation. However, rural BJP workers like BJP women leader from Kamalpur township, Sipra Das says, "There is a gradual change and many young voters are readily rejecting the Left ideology".
But the Marxists are trying to take the battle to new realms of power and political games. Like most political parties – on the verge of losing ground – the Marxist leaders in the state too find it “distasteful” to admit that things are going against them.
Hence, there are already multiple strategies in hand. One of them from the Left camp being - playing up the fear psychosis, if BJP comes to power along with Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), there could be "division" of the state and Bengali Hindus can be again rendered 'homeless'. UNI
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