For both governments, the real task of governance lies ahead.
Results of the two Assembly elections declared on Sunday — in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim — show that anti-incumbency sentiments had no place in the people’s emphatic endorsement of a second term for the Pema Khandu-led BJP government in Arunachal and Prem Singh Tamang’s Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) in Sikkim. If the first is a hat tip to the BJP’s ability to build a deepening connection with the people, centred around the persona of the Prime Minister and his government’s schemes, and its organisational talent, the latter shows a young state figuring out a way forward. The results raise questions, too, about the Opposition’s inertia in both states, and especially in Arunachal Pradesh, where its lack of focus became apparent in its inability to come up with issues that resonated with the electorate. It also reveals the Congress party’s diminishing connection with a region where it was once a dominant force. It won one out of 60 seats in Arunachal Pradesh and none of Sikkim’s 32 seats.
The script for Sunday’s outcomes, though, has been written a page at a time over the last decade. Over this period, defections from other parties have been a major plank of the BJP’s strategy in the Northeast, apart from its promises and delivery on infrastructure building. In 2016, Khandu left the Congress with 43 MLAs for the BJP, which played a part in its victory in the 2019 Assembly elections. With 46 out of 60 seats, of which 10 were won unopposed, his government has bettered its own record this time. In Sikkim, the BJP’s decision to go solo after its fallout with the SKM was a gamble that did not pay off — it did not win any seat. But it does not take away from the foothold it gained as the largest opposition party after the 2019 Assembly poll in a state where regional rather than ideological concerns have traditionally shaped politics. If anything, the near-total wipeout of Pawan Chamling’s Sikkim Democratic Front, that was in power for 25 years and that lost narrowly to the SKM in 2019, indicates a growing confidence among Sikkim’s electorate to experiment with change.
For both governments, the real task of governance lies ahead. It would mean a focus on developing infrastructure and employment opportunities. Both are strategic border states crucial to India’s Look East policy. With continuing unrest in Myanmar and China’s hardening stance on territorial disputes, stability in the region remains a priority. There is also the complication of the fragile ecological balance of these Himalayan states, rendered increasingly more vulnerable by natural disasters such as landslides and glacial outburst floods. Khandu and Tamang will have to hit the ground running.
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