Forty-eight-year-old Biplab Kumar Deb is the Chief Minister of Tripura, his party in its spirited avatar being in alliance with the ethnic political formation of the State – the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) – that has demanded upgrade of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council into a full-fledged State. In the run-up to the polls, the Left and the Congress had vehemently opposed the demand, with the BJP playing safe and perhaps awaiting the right time to play its cards as it had struck a deal with the indigenous outfit to kick the Left out. This task being now accomplished, and with the party itself leading the new government assisted by the IPFT, it now remains to be seen how the saffron party deals with the sensitive issue. The crux of the matter, nonetheless, is that tribals or indigenous groups in Tripura have always grumbled against their domition by Bengali migrants of East Bengal/ East Pakistan/ Bangladesh descent. And their fears are genuine too, given the topsy-turviness of the State’s demographic profile due solely to influx from across the border. How the BJP tackles this sensitivity, genuineness and fear, is a million-dollar question. But it is an issue that the party must have to take a call on.