Tripura’s New CM Manik Saha: Soft-Spoken Dental Surgeon Who Was Once Hounded By Communists

As a college student, he resisted immense pressure to join the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) that is affiliated to the CPI(M). And for that, the young Manik Saha was harassed and hounded.

SFI leaders of his college ensured he faced many hurdles and even encouraged Saha’s fellow-students to boycott him. But Saha remained unfazed and refused to join the students’ wing of the CPI(M).

From a very young age, Saha (born on January 8, 1953) was politically aware and developed a deep dislike for the communists. Neither was he enamoured of the Congress which was ruling over Tripura while Saha was growing up in that state.

Saha’s contemporaries remember him as a good, diligent and affable young person. He was helpful and used to take part in many social activities organised by non-political bodies. It was his popularity with his fellow-students that made the SFI and the Chhatra Parishad (the students’ wing of the Congress) woo him.

His refusal to join either outfit angered both, but it was the SFI, which had considerable influence due to the growing heft of its parent (the CPI-M), which turned vengeful towards him. SFI leaders harassed him in many overt and covert ways, but all their efforts failed because of young Manik Saha’s popularity amongst his fellow-students.

Saha was a good student and secured admission at the Patna Dental College from where he graduated in dental surgery. After that, he pursued a postgraduate course in dental surgery from the famous King George’s Medical College in Lucknow.

He returned to Tripura during a particularly brutal phase of communist rule under the chief ministership of Nripen Chakraborty. Once again, the communists pressured him to join the party or at least a doctors’ outfit affiliated to the party. And once again, Saha refused.

His close friends say that Saha was always right-leaning, but since no right-wing political outfit existed in Tripura then, he preferred to keep away from active politics. The BJP had no existence in the state at that time.

But the constant torment and persecution by the CPI(M), who even warned his parents that he would be harmed, forced Saha to express his support for the Congress. But, as erroneously reported in large sections of the media, he never formally joined the Congress.

That was because he had little regard for the dynastic party and its self-seeking policies. Saha was also contemptuous of corrupt Congress leaders.

His informal association with the Congress was, thus, a tactic to keep his Marxist tormentors at bay. Saha’s close associates told Swarajya that even being a popular and well-regarded dental surgeon could not shield Saha from the CPI(M)’s vengeance and it was to protect himself and his family that he expressed his support for the Congress and associated himself informally with that party.

“He could have easily joined the Congress formally and would surely have been rewarded with a plum post. But he was quite critical of the Congress and its policies in private and could not bring himself to formally join a party that he had little regard for,” said a fellow-dental surgeon.

The dental surgeon started teaching at the government-run Tripura Medical College & Dr B.R.Ambedkar Teaching Hospital in Agartala. He was a popular teacher amongst his students.

Saha was an avid cricketer and badminton player and was well-regarded by the state's sportsmen. He joined the Tripura Cricket Association and made it his mission to encourage young players and provide them with many facilities and training. He is now the president of the Association.

Manik Saha got the chance to realise his political ambitions once the BJP started gaining ascendancy in his state. He joined the saffron party in 2016 and became the convenor of the party’s doctors’ cell.

Saha, a soft-spoken and diligent person, maintained a low profile and did not associate himself with any faction of the party. He gained a reputation for being honest and keeping the party’s interests in mind at all times.

Saha also caught the attention of senior leaders of the party, including the central leadership, for carrying out all tasks assigned to him meticulously. He also gained a reputation of working silently without coming in the limelight and for avoiding all controversies.

He was made the president of the state unit of the party in 2020. That was the time that some party leaders had revolted against the then chief minister Biplab Deb. Saha adeptly prevented the revolt from gaining steam.

BJP leaders in Tripura told Swarajya that Saha is widely perceived as even-handed, fair and approachable. He has worked very hard over the past two years as state party president and is credited for the party’s clean sweep of the civic polls in the state in November last year.

“He works silently, but very effectively. And he is liked by party workers who find him approachable, helpful and open to ideas. Manik Saha is the sort of person who can strike an easy rapport with everyone and is completely non-controversial. He is also very honest and is against factionalism,” said a senior BJP leader who is also a minister.

These qualities made him an easy choice for the chief minister’s post. The party central leadership did not have any problems in not only choosing Saha to replace Biplab Deb, but also convincing the latter to endorse Saha as his successor. In fact, it was Deb who proposed Saha’s name as the state’s eleventh chief minister at a meeting of the party’s legislative wing last weekend.