Tafajjal Hossain, CPM slayer in minority bastion, is BJP’s new poster boy in Tripura
The BJP leader has helped the saffron party wrest the minority-dominated Boxanagar constituency from the CPI(M) for the first time in 25 years
After wresting the minority-dominated Boxanagar Assembly seat in Tripura's Sepahijala district from the CPI(M) in the by-election by more than 30,000 votes, Tafajjal Hossain has now become the new poster boy of the BJP.
More than 66 per cent of voters in the Boxanagar Assembly constituency, which had been a CPI(M) stronghold for 25 years, belong to the minority community.
Hossain's win in Boxanagar is seen as politically important for the saffron party, which is accused of ignoring the interest of minorities in the north-eastern state.
Hossain polled 33,849 votes in the by-election to the Boxanagar seat, while CPI(M)'s Mizan Hussain got only 3,884 votes. Riding on the aggressive campaign led by Chief Minister Manik Saha and his Cabinet colleagues, the BJP defeated the CPI(M) in its bastion.
“BJP removed misconceptions”
“For the past 40 years, the people of Boxanagar were fooled by the CPI(M) and Congress. Today, the people have taken revenge for the ill-treatment meted out to them,” Hossain told reporters after winning the by-election.
“In the 2023 February election, the electors were misled by the Communists. This time we have been able to remove misconceptions about BJP. The result is with us as the CPI(M) candidate lost his deposit,” he added.
Hossain said people voted in large numbers for the BJP to teach the CPI(M) a lesson. “In the assembly election in February 2023, the CPI(M) won the seat by misleading people of the minority community. But this time, they voted for the BJP in large numbers to teach the CPI(M) a lesson. The CPI(M) will be reduced to a party of the past soon,” he claimed.
“The CPI(M) knew they would lose the election. That’s why it boycotted the counting,” he said.
The by-election to the Boxanagar constituency was necessitated by the death of CPI(M) MLA Samsul Haque. The CPI(M) had fielded Haque's son Mizan Hussain to garner sympathy vote in the by-election but failed to win the seat.
(With agency inputs)