The blemish in BJP’s Tripura win: Deputy CM Jishnu Dev Varma pays for misjudging TIPRA Motha

Following his loss, Varma congratulated his party and ally IPFT but did not comment on his defeat. “My good wishes and congratulations to all the BJP and IPFT candidates who won a stunning victory. Once again double engine Sarkar with Sri Modiji’s blessings,” he said.

Before the elections, when asked about his nephew’s outfit, the BJP leader said it was more hype than anything else and the space for tribal politics was limited. “They have appeal among some youngsters. But this demand (statehood for tribals) is passing.” While it remains to be seen if his assessment is correct in the long run, Dev Varma seems to have underestimated TIPRA Motha’s appeal on his home turf.

Belonging to the erstwhile Tripura royal family, Dev Varma has also been a longtime BJP loyalist, having been part of it much before it even became a player in the state. He joined politics almost five decades ago. Between 1989 and 1993, he was a member of the North-Eastern Council Advisory Committee and was also convenor of the Indian National Council for Art and Cultural Heritage.

After a stint in the Congress, he moved to the BJP in the early 1990s during the Ram temple movement. But the BJP enjoyed little support in Tripura back then. The party accorded him a place in its national council in 1993 and later named him its national general secretary in charge of Tripura. In 1996, he contested the Lok Sabha elections from East Tripura constituency, followed by the 1998 Tripura Assembly elections, and 1999 Lok Sabha elections. While he lost all three times, Dev Varma secured 29 per cent of the votes, the highest as far as the BJP was concerned in Tripura back then.

As the BJP began to make its Northeast push from 2015 onwards, Dev Varma was included in its plans and appointed a member of its core committee. In the 2018 Assembly elections, the BJP projected Dev Varma as its royal trump card against Pradyot who was then in the Congress.