Why Phangnon Konyak and Mriganka Deo Barman Matter in Nitin Nabin’s New BJP Team
BJP leader Phangnon Konyak has been appointed national secretary in the BJP (Image BJP on X)
By NIRENDRA DEV
BJP president Nitin Nabin’s new national team gives Phangnon Konyak and Mriganka Deo Barman larger organisational roles, while Biplab Kumar Deb adds another Northeast face to the party’s central leadership.
New Delhi, August 18, 2026 — Opportunities come rarely. Youngsters may surprise detractors and prophets of doom.
Three leaders from Northeast India have secured key roles in BJP president Nitin Nabin’s new national team. Nabin has also included six leaders from minority communities and 10 women in his new national team.
The Lotus party strategists, with the explicit blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have expanded the BJP’s regional footprint in the Northeast by inducting Rajya Sabha MP Phangnon Konyak, 48, from Nagaland and Mriganka Deo Barman of Assam into the national secretariat as national secretaries.
Barman is a former general secretary of the BJP Assam unit and also served as the state president of the Yuva Morcha.
The appointments of Phangnon Konyak and Barman to the BJP’s national team give them a broader organisational role and greater scope to deliver. It remains to be seen what specific responsibilities have been kept for them in the days to come.
The Rajya Sabha MP, Phangnon Konyak, is also the second Naga woman parliamentarian after Rano Shaiza. As expected, BJP leaders described her election to the Upper House as revolutionary and empowering for Matri Shakti (women).
The only previous instance of Nagaland sending a woman to Parliament was in the 1970s. Rano Shaiza was elected as Nagaland’s MP to the Lok Sabha as a United Democratic Party candidate, defeating Congress stalwart Hokishe Sema in the post-Emergency anti-Congress wave in 1977.
One should note that Nagaland has a high literacy rate, and English is its official language. However, the Nagaland Assembly holds the dubious distinction of opposing the women’s reservation bill, which sought to reserve 33 per cent of state legislature and parliamentary seats for women.
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In 1997, during the tenure of the S.C. Jamir government in Nagaland, then Parliamentary Affairs Minister Zhove Lohe moved a resolution, which the Assembly passed unanimously.
To an extent, Phangnon is a trendsetter. Following her unanimous election in 2022, Nagaland now has two elected women legislators. Before that, the state had never elected a single woman MLA to its legislature.
To ensure that every major faith in India is respected and accommodated, the BJP’s national office will now have one Sikh member, two Christian members, including Phangnon, and one member each from the Muslim, Jain and Parsi communities.
Former Aligarh Muslim University Vice Chancellor Prof. Tariq Mansoor has been appointed national vice president. Kunwar Basit Ali has been appointed president of the Minority Morcha.
Anil Antony, the son of Congress veteran A.K. Antony, has been retained as a national secretary. Former Punjab minister Manpreet Singh Badal has been appointed BJP national vice president.
The 10 women in the national team include Vasundhara Raje Scindia as vice president. Smriti Irani is another major winner, returning to prominence as a general secretary.
“Such balanced appointments empower the incoming national president’s executive team to operate with a profound awareness of the nation’s vast geographical landscape and regional nuances,” the BJP said in a statement.
The third leader from the Northeast to make it to the new team is former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, who has also been appointed a general secretary.
The new team has four tribal representatives from West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and the Northeast, two of whom are women.
Additionally, the Scheduled Castes (SC) are represented by three members from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. Among women leaders, Kavita Patidar and Sangeeta Yadav have been appointed national secretaries.
Former Union minister D. Purandeshwari and former NCW chief Rekha Verma will serve as vice presidents. Roop Kumari Choudhary has been appointed president of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha, while Priti Gandhi has been made a social media co-convenor.
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