Along came Temjen Imna: BJP Nagaland chief joking his way to limelight, high command’s good books

Among Along’s popular posts is a photo of him eating from a plate with the caption: “Disclaimer: Stunts performed by professional in a controlled environment. Should not be imitated.” Another one is a screenshot in which among the Google search suggestions on his name is ‘temjen imna along wife’. He uploaded this with the comment “Ayalee, @Google search excites me. I am still looking for her!”

Ayalee, @Google search excites me.😆

I am still looking for her! pic.twitter.com/RzmmgyFFeq

— Temjen Imna Along (@AlongImna) July 10, 2022

Along also tweets regularly in fluent Hindi. In a recent post, he uploaded a photo of him sweeping a road wearing a BJP scarf, whose caption read: “Photo ke bahaane hi sahi saaf kiya karo. Jitni photos khichoge, utna hi gandagi saaf hoga. Keep Clicking. Keep Cleaning.”

Photo के बहाने ही सही साफ़ किया करो 😜
जितनी Photos खिचोगे, उतनी ही गंदगी साफ़ होगी।

Keep Clicking 📸
Keep Cleaning 🧹 pic.twitter.com/nZWGzIenXt

— Temjen Imna Along (@AlongImna) February 8, 2023

In the February 2018 elections to the 60-member state Assembly, Along had contested from Alongtaki against the then sitting MLA, Benjongliba Aier from the Naga People’s Front (NPF), managing to win the poll with a margin of just 86 votes. He was subsequently inducted into the Rio ministry. His fortunes rose further when barely a few months after the elections, he was appointed the state BJP chief by the then BJP national president Amit Shah.

Along was re-elected as the state BJP president in 2020. He is known to be close to the BJP central leadership as well as to the party’s Assam Chief Minister and North East Democratic Alliance convener Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The 2018 polls had seen a significant expansion of the BJP’s footprint in Nagaland, as the party increased its tally to 12 seats from one seat in the 2013 polls even as its vote share shot up to 15.31% from 1.75%. Since then, the BJP under Along’s leadership has continued to grow in the state. This was evidenced by the sharp rise in the number of the party’s ticket aspirants in the run-up to the February 27 Assembly polls, which also led to considerable discontent in a party section against Along, that has demanded that the party should seek more than 20 seats from its senior ally NDPP, which is contesting 40 seats as part of their seat-sharing pact.

Ahead of the polls, Along has also drawn criticism from the Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs), which accused him of hindering the settlement of the Naga political problem and of having an “anti-solution stance” on the issue. The NNPGs is an umbrella group of seven armed Naga outfits which had joined the peace talks after negotiations were renewed between the Union government and the NSCN (IM) in 2015.

“The BJP government at the Centre is trying its best to find permanent peace in Nagaland. On the other hand, the Nagaland state BJP leadership is playing with fire… The evasive manner and non-committal attitude, the arrogance of the Nagaland BJP president has accumulated beyond tolerance… A man devoid of any principle, an opportunist and morally bankrupt, he is responsible for misleading the Naga people and betraying BJP leadership in New Delhi,” alleged a statement issued by the NNPGs.

Last year, Along had also riled the NSCN (IM) over his statement he made in the Assembly that the rebel outfit’s demand for a separate flag and a constitution would be “unachievable” even in “400 years”. Calling him “a boy of yesterday in the political arena”, the NSCN (IM) had accused Along of being “recklessly immature”.

Having found his feet in Nagaland politics, Along is however set to spearhead the saffron party’s campaign in the upcoming Assembly polls.