If Left and Cong win, and if they pick him as hinted, Chaudhary – who ticks many of the right boxes – would only be the third tribal chosen as head of govt in Tripura.
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HOPING to give the BJP a tough fight in the February 16 Assembly elections in Tripura, the Left Front-Congress partnership has played a clever hand. Should the two manage to form the government, they have said, they would make a tribal leader the Chief Minister – only the third at the head of the government in the 74 years since Tripura has been part of the Indian Union, marked by a bitter Bengali-tribal divide.
The mantle, if the two rivals-turned-friends do defeat the BJP-IPFT ruling alliance and keep their promise, is expected to fall on Jitendra Chaudhury, 65, currently CPI(M) state secretary, who has held almost all important positions in the party’s Tripura unit, is a multiple-time minister, and has also done a crucial stint at the centre.
The BJP has dismissed this as an empty promise by the Left-Congress with an eye on the tribal vote, but its response showed the issue has hit its mark. Meanwhile, after that first assertion by AICC general secretary in-charge of Tripura Ajay Kumar that “a top CPI(M) tribal leader” and “son of the soil” would be their CM pick, the Congress and Left have refrained from expanding more.
There are several things going in Chaudhury’s favour, apart from him being a tribal leader. Considered a moderate among the Left hardliners, he was, for one, among the first proponents of a partnership with non-Left parties to collectively take on the BJP – which means the Congress would prefer him over then others.
Then there is his long tenure in state politics, starting with the CPI(M) student body in 1971. A decade later, he joined full-time politics, and in seven years, had found a place in the party’s state committee. In 1993, when he first won an Assembly election, Chaudhury was inducted as minister. He went on to serve in four Manik Sarkar-led Left Front governments between then and 2014. That year, mid-term, he moved to the Centre as an MP from East Tripura constituency.
It was speculated at the time that Chaudhury had been moved to Delhi due to differences with his senior comrades. However, his tenure in national politics – away from the overarching shadow of Sarkar — did him good. As Chaudhury took over as CPI(M) state secretary in 2021, he was seen to have developed a more liberal bent in politics, and a softer stand towards non-Left parties.
In what would once have been considered unthinkable, given the Left’s history of fighting the monarchy in Tripura, Chaudhury also took the lead this time in reaching out to erstwhile royal Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma and his TIPRA Motha party.
While they could not reach an agreement, Debbarma admits to a friendly and respectful personal relationship with Chaudhury and has not fielded a candidate against him in his seat Sabroom.
Chaudhary has also nurtured his tribal links, being an active advocate of tribal issues. He is both president of the Tripura Rajya Gana Mukti Parishad, the CPI(M)’s tribal wing, and national convenor of the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Mancha.
Asked about whether he was the Left-Congress’s CM face, Chaudhury played down the matter, saying neither had such a decision been taken, nor the issue discussed between the Congress and Left till now. “Their party (the Congress) is independent and might have expressed its desire (for a tribal CM). How can I deny or accept? They are speaking from their heart. I have nothing to comment on it.
Chaudhury added that after the results, the CPI(M) would pick its legislative leader from among the victorious MLAs, and that the Left parties would act as per their guidelines and style of functioning. He said it was too early to comment on the CM face, and their focus right now was “putting up a joint fight by all secular, democratic forces to ensure the BJP’s defeat at all costs”.
