Biplab Kumar Deb

**Biplab Kumar Deb** (born 25 November 1971) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Tripura. He has been the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Tripura since 7 January 2016 till 2018. He led the BJP to victory in the 2018 Legislative Assembly Election, defeating 25 years rule of the Left Front government led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He took his oath as the 10th Chief Minister of Tripura on 9 March 2018.

## Early life

Biplab Deb was born on 25 November 1971 in Rajdhar Nagar village, Udaipur, Gomati district, Tripura. His parents had moved to India as refugees from Chandpur District , East Pakistan during liberation war in 1971 before his birth. His father is a citizen of India since 27 June 1967. He spent his childhood and schooling days in Tripura. He graduated from Tripura University before going to New Delhi. He later returned to Tripura after an absence of 15 years.

## Political career

Biplab Deb was elected the President of Tripura state unit of BJP in January 2017 replacing Sudhndra Dasgupta who was BJP's longest serving state president. He started his political career by campaigning for the 2018 state election. He began his campaign from the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council which was believed to be the base of the then governing CPI(M).

On 8 August 2017 Biplab Deb helped bring about the defection of Indian National Congress MLAs led by Sudip Roy Barman to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He led the local BJP into the 2018 Legislative Assembly election, attempting to gain office after 25 years of Left Front rule.

### Chief Minister

Deb contested the election from Banamalipur Constituency in Agartala and won by a margin of 9,549 votes, which was held by Indian National Congress MLA Gopal Roy. Deb led the Tripura's Election campaign and defeated Left Front after 25 years by winning 44 seats with his ally Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura out of possible 60 seats in Tripura.

Deb campaigned on the subject of youth employment opportunities, which he promised to improve if elected Chief Minister of Tripura. He also promised the employees of Tripura that he would implement the 7th Pay Commission once get elected. Deb brought in key BJP ministers from across India to campaign for the party in Tripura.

He took his oath as the 10th Chief Minister of Tripura on 9 March 2018.

## Controversy

In April 2018, Deb stirred disputes by saying that the internet and satellites have existed since the Mahabharata era. He also made remarks on the Civil Service Examination. He said that only civil engineers should sit for civil service exams.

He also said that international beauty pageants were a farce. He also claimed that the decision to award Miss World and Miss Universe titles to Indian women for five years in a row was market-driven rather than based on the beauty of the participants while questioning the rationale behind awarding Diana Hayden the Miss World pageant.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **name**: Biplab Kumar Deb
- **image**: File:Biplab Kumar Deb (cropped).png
- **office**: 10th List of Chief Ministers of Tripura, Chief Minister of Tripura
- **governor**: Tathagata Roy
Kaptan Singh Solanki
Ramesh Bais
Satyadev Narayan Arya
- **deputy**: Jishnu Dev Varma
- **term start**: 9 March 2018
- **predecessor**: Manik Sarkar
- **office1**: Member of Legislative Assembly (India), Member of Legislative Assembly, Tripura Legislative Assembly, Tripura
- **constituency1**: Banamalipur (Tripura Vidhan Sabha constituency), Banamalipur
- **term start1**: 3 March 2018
- **predecessor1**: Gopal Chandra Roy
- **office2**: President (government title), President, Tripura States and union territories of India, State unit, Bharatiya Janata Party
- **term start2**: 2016
- **term end2**: 2018
- **party**: Bharatiya Janata Party
- **otherparty**: National Democratic Alliance
- **spouse**: Niti Deb
- **children**: 2 (1 daughter and 1 son)
- **birth place**: Rajdhar Nagar village, Gomati district, Tripura, India
- **alma mater**: Tripura University
- **residence**: Shyamaprasad Mukerjee Lane, Agartala