New Delhi: Before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when Amit Shah as BJP president sent signals to Chhattisgarh’s incumbent MPs that they will all be replaced by fresh faces, Vishnu Deo Sai was the first to announce his decision to not contest the polls.
He did so without making any public comment, although he was the sole representative from Chhattisgarh to get a place in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first cabinet of 2014.
Within one-and-half years of the 2019 general election, the BJP made Sai, a veteran tribal leader, the party president in Chhattisgarh, in place of another tribal leader, Vikram Usendi.
Last year, Sai was replaced as state party president after completing his term, with OBC face Arun Sao, on World Tribal Day. Again, he refrained from making any public remarks on the BJP’s move.
On Sunday, the 59-year-old four-time MP and newly-elected MLA was named the first tribal chief minister of Chhattisgarh since the formation of the state in 2000, a week after he was adjudged the winning candidate from Kunkuri constituency, defeating sitting Congress MLA U.D. Minj.
The political career graph of Sai — considered one of the state’s most trusted tribal leaders in the BJP — rose almost in tandem with that of former CM Raman Singh, who was also said to be in the running for the top post.
A trusted colleague of Singh’s, Sai has proven to be lucky for the BJP, be it during the 2008 or 2013 state polls, or the 2009 general elections.
As the BJP wrested Chhattisgarh from the Congress, winning 54 seats in the 90-member assembly, what played a decisive role was the tribal votes, especially in the Bastar and Surguja districts. The party bagged 8 seats in Bastar and 14 in Surguja, where it fielded not only Vishnu Deo Sai but also former Union minister Renuka Singh and Member of Parliament Gomati Sai to bring back lost tribal support and wrest the district from the Congress.
Former minister and Speaker during Raman Singh’s government, Prem Prakash Pandey told ThePrint: “There was demand for a tribal chief minister in the state. The BJP felt that tribal sentiments should be respected, so a senior, soft-spoken leader like Vishnu Deo Sai was chosen as chief minister of the state.”
A senior BJP leader told ThePrint that Sai was “the most acceptable leader in the party”.
“He has run the party in the past effectively. He has experience of running the system. Even Raman Singh has no problem with his trusted colleague, who he worked with in the past, being named (CM). Other contenders were lacking consensus and experience,” the party leader added.
Born into farmer’s family with deep roots in politics
Born into a farmer’s family in Bagiya village of Jashpur district, soft-spoken Vishnu Deo Sai started his political journey in his village before 1990, when he was elected as sarpanch unopposed, before taking the plunge into electoral politics. He had to sell a parcel of land to contest the assembly elections from Tapkara in 1990 (in undivided Madhya Pradesh).
Sai’s family has deep roots in politics. His grandfather Budhnath Sai was a nominated MLA. Moreover, his father’s brother Narhari Prasad Sai was a member of the Jan Sangh, elected twice as MLA from Tarpara constituency and as MP. Narhari Prasad also served as Union minister in 1977 in the Janata Party government.
Considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Sai, after becoming an MP, donated to several RSS-backed groups. Due to his keen interest in sports, he also got a hockey stadium made in Jashpur.
The low-profile MP from Raigarh seat was always considered as the preferred tribal face of the BJP in the state. The party did invest in another tribal leader, Nand Kumar Sai, by making him party president, and Leader of the Opposition in 2000-2003 and sending him to Rajya Sabha.
However, Nand Kumar quit the party before this year’s assembly elections, claiming he was denied the CM’s post as part of a conspiracy in 2003, when Raman Singh was given the post.
Unlike Nand Kumar, the low-profile Vishnu Deo Sai’s cordial relationship with the RSS and Raman Singh helped him rise to become a prominent tribal face of the party over the last two decades. During Raman Singh’s chief ministerial tenure, the BJP had picked him to lead the state unit.
Sai was Chhattisgarh BJP chief in 2006-2009 when Raman Singh was facing his second election in the state. He led the party to win 10 of 11 Lok Sabha seats twice — in 2009 and again in 2014. Wins in tribal areas had proved a big factor in the overall performance of the BJP. The assembly elections of 2013 saw the party losing to the Congress in areas like Bastar, Surguja, Kanker and Korba.
Coming just four months before the crucial general election next year, the assembly results gave the BJP an opportunity for course correction. Among many other measures taken, the most visible was to bring back the mascot that had proved lucky earlier. Sai was appointed the party chief again in January this year.
Nand Kumar Sai, who left the BJP and joined Congress told ThePrint: “During initial years, Dilip Singh Judeo was a big tribal leader who had clout in the state. Judeo supported soft-spoken Vishnu Deo Sai in his initial political journey.”
BJP’s Jashpur district president Sunil Gupta, considered close to Sai, told ThePrint, “Judeo came to Vishnu Deo’s house to first make him sarpanch, and later MLA.”
‘Ahead of 2024, eye on tribals’
After the creation of Chhattisgarh, the BJP heavily invested in building its base in tribal leadership, evident in its selection of party state heads — from Nand Kumar Sai, Ram Sewak Paikra, Vikram Usendi to Vishnu Deo Sai.
However, there were always concerns that it had not picked a chief minister from among them.
Even in 2003, Nand Kumar, who was leader of opposition after formation of the state, was not given the CM’s post and Raman Singh, a Rajput leader, was chosen instead.
Nand Kumar always had a complaint that BJP did not select a tribal CM in a state where the community made up 32 percent of the population. When Raman Singh lost the 2018 assembly elections, the party brought in Vikram Usendi and later Vishnu Deo Sai as state presidents — both tribals — but to counter OBC face Bhupesh Baghel, it brought in Arun Sao as party state president last year, replacing Vishnu Deo Sai.
The BJP’s OBC outreach played out well, but the biggest turnaround story was its victory in tribal seats.
Former minister Ram Vichar Netam told ThePrint that not only in Chhattisgarh, choosing a tribal chief minister will have an impact on the Lok Sabha polls next year as well.
He added: “This election, from Madhya Pradesh to Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the BJP performed well in tribal seats, although the party has always empowered the tribal community, be it by making Arjun Munda a Union minister, Babu Lal Marandi as state president (Jharkhand) and first tribal President of India Droupadi Murmu ji. The BJP has made a commitment to empower tribals and this is only another example.”
Another senior party leader said: “Not only Lok Sabha, even adjoining state Jharkhand has to go to polls. Making tribals chief ministers after President Murmu, the BJP’s outreach to the community, all will be remembered.”
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: How BJP snatched Chhattisgarh’s tribal belts, Bastar & Surguja, from Congress