A month earlier, the Central body of Bharatiya Janata Party were all praise for the Tripura Chief Minister, Biplab Kumar Deb. The party had even compared him of having the charisma of Bollywood actor, but due to his controversial remarks back to back within the first month of his government, has compelled the Prime Minister, Narendra Damodardas Modi to summon him to Delhi for dressing down on May 2 next. He was also dropped from the team of Young Chief Ministers Mascot as star campaigners for the Karnataka May 12, 2018 poll.

Editor of Meghalaya Times, Thomas Lim has written this piece.

As Modi has given a big push to digitization by making it accessible to citizens across the country in one of his pet flagship programme of Digitized India, Tripura Chief Minister in a public gathering came up with a new scientific interpretation for the evolution of internet when he said internet existed in the days of Mahabharata as well.
Deb claims that India has been using internet for ages. In Mahabharata, Sanjay was blind but he narrated what was happening on the battlefield to Dhritarashtra anyway. This was due to internet and technology. The satellite also existed during that period.
Next shocker came when Deb in another public meeting questioned the crowning of Diana Hayden as Miss World 1997 and alleged that international beauty contests were a farce. He, however, was all praise for Aishwarya Rai, who won the Miss World crown in 1994, saying she represents the Indian women in the true sense. He later regretted his remarks.
According to Tripura Chief Minister, Indian beauty is like Goddess Laxmi and Saraswati.

Just less than 48 hours after his sexist remark targeting former Miss World Diana Hayden, Tripura Chief Minister said civil engineers are better equipped to be in civil services and not mechanical engineers. He stated that civil engineers should join Civil Services as they have the knowledge and experience to help build administration and society.

Deb continued his bizarre claims saying doctors and civil engineers would be better suited for civil service positions.
Yet another of his controversial remarks was when he suggested that all the graduates should not be running after government job or running after political parties, instead they should set up a paan shop or sell pakora or rear a cow. Deb justified in saying that Milk is being sold at Rs 50 per litre; Graduates should get cows and milk it to earn Rs 10 lakh in 10 years.

All of his statements have gone viral in the social media, and fearing it might affect the Karnataka’s May 12, 2018 poll, the BJP campaigning cell have to drop Deb’s name from the list of party campaigners. According to the survey, even Modi felt the nerves of the masses in the poll bound State to reject him due to the controversial remarks of Deb.

Call it the intoxication of power or Deb getting the chair without self struggle, as the success story of capturing Tripura from the Left who ruled the state for 25 years have been attributed to Senior BJP Leader Sunil Deodhar. The incumbent Chief Minister occupied the office in a platter, hence even after meeting Prime Minister, there is little hope that Deb can easily change his habit of controversial remarks.

Within a month, the masses, including the BJP workers regretted the headlines about Tripura Chief Minister’s uncensored remarks, which have prompted Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, through a confidential letter, urging Biplab Deb to consider a Bengal BJP worker as an advisor to his office as damage control. This has created yet another controversy from across the section of the society alleging the Governor has turned the Raj Bhawan into BJP office.
Indian politics are demanding to have more young leaders, but if all young leaders turn out to be like Deb, the seasoned and senior political leaders will be having the best laugh at the moment. As of now Tripura under the care of Young Chief Minister is hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons, while Tripura under Marxist leader Manik Sarkar hit the headlines as achievers.

The General Election to Lok Sabha 2019 is less than a year away; if such controversial remarks keep pouring out from the BJP model state like Tripura from the North Easter region, it will be impossible even for the central leadership to do the damage control for restoring the image of BJP.
Not only Tripura, all the legislators, particularly the first timers or young representatives should be given an orientation programme before they are appointed to their respective duties, otherwise such controversial remarks, which even the school students don’t make, will only degrade the sanity of the world’s largest democracy.

  Meghalaya, NARENDRA MODI, Northeast, Tripura