Union Minister Kiren Rijiju in an exclusive interview to NDTV explained why the BJP keeps winning elections and performing well in the northeast region.
Mr Rijiju, the Earth Sciences Minister, is an MP from Arunachal Pradesh. The Lok Sabha and the assembly elections were held simultaneously in the mountainous border state. The BJP has reclaimed power in the Arunachal assembly for the third consecutive term today, securing a majority with 46 seats in the 60-member assembly.
"Some seats the BJP lost are with a thin margin, but 46 seats mean a huge victory for the Arunachal people. The region has seen real development. There has been real transformation across the state," Mr Rijiju told NDTV. He contested from Arunachal West. The other Lok Sabha seat is Arunachal East.
"The most important factor is PM Modi ji's visionary leadership. The region is most difficult in terms of geography and topography – to have airport, railway lines, villages connected with roads, this was an impossible task in the past. That is why we have won this election with a comfortable margin," the Union Minister said.
He said the transformational change the people have seen gives no other party a chance to win elections in the northeast. "The Congress chapter is closed. They did nothing for 60 years," Mr Rijiju said.
He denied the northeast has always voted for the power in the Centre. "The BJP never had a government in the Centre as long as the Congress had. So it is wrong to say the northeast goes with the government in the Centre. In 2015, Arunachal became the first state to be governed by the BJP. Modi ji became PM in 2014. Then BJP came to power in Assam, Manipur and Tripura, and formed alliance governments in Meghalaya and Sikkim," he said.
"The northeast now feels somebody listens to them," Mr Rijiju said.
After a marathon Lok Sabha elections 2024 – spread over six weeks, the second-longest general election since 1951-52 – a big win for the ruling BJP-led NDA has been predicted by twelve exit polls – India Today- Axis My India (361-401), News 24-Today's Chanakya (400), ABP News-C Voter (353-383), Republic Bharat- P Marq (359), India News- D-Dyanamics (371), Republic Bharat- Matrize (353-368), Dainik Bhaskar (281-350), News Nation (342-378), TV 9 Bharatvarsh- Polstrat (342), Times Now-ETG (358), India TV- CNX (362-392) and Jan Ki Baat (362-392).
The exit polls have also predicted NDA dominance in Karnataka and Maharashtra and Left-led alliance's rout in Kerala. In Bengal, the exit polls predicted a better performance for the BJP than it did the last time (22). Most exit polls have said that the BJP will now be the single-largest party in Bengal in terms of Lok Sabha seats.