Vote from the Northeast

The 2023 Assembly elections in Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tripura were not only about those who won. Those who have lost will likely become important political players as well. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has retained power in Tripura, but was unable to beat back the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), a new political force that promises to reshape politics in the state by its resolute opposition to the BJP’s citizenship law and its own demand for a separate state. The BJP has said it has nothing against the TMP except its call for a homeland for indigenous people of the state. Identity politics, which has always been a differentiator in Tripura, had been on the back burner after the BJP’s triumphant