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A profile of Benjamin Yepthomi — his origins in Dimapur, his formation inside the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Nagaland organisation, and the sequence of offices that brought him to the state presidency.
Benjamin Yepthomi belongs to a category of Indian political figure that rarely gets written about at length: the state organisational leader. He holds no ministry and no legislative seat. What he holds is the machinery — the district units, the mandals, the booth committees, the membership rolls and the cadre — of a national party operating in a state of roughly two million people, where it governs as a partner rather than a principal.
He was named State President of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Nagaland on 25 September 2023. The decision was taken by the party’s national president, Jagat Prakash Nadda, and communicated through an organisational appointment letter issued by Arun Singh, national general secretary and headquarters in-charge. It took effect immediately.
He succeeded Temjen Imna Along — the state’s Minister for Tourism and Higher Education and one of its most widely recognised public figures — who had served two terms in the post. Yepthomi is the eleventh person to hold the presidency of the party’s Nagaland unit. Regional reporting at the time gave his age as forty-five.
Congratulations on the appointment came from Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Deputy Chief Minister Y. Patton, and from his predecessor, who wrote publicly that Yepthomi’s “vision and commitment will definitely take BJP Nagaland to greater heights.”
Origins
Dimapur, and a family that founded villages
Yepthomi is from Dimapur district — Nagaland’s commercial centre and its most demographically mixed, sitting on the plains where the state meets Assam. It is the district through which most of Nagaland’s trade, transport and political traffic passes, and a natural base for organisational work that has to reach the rest of the state.
He is the son of the late Khehokhu Yepthomi, who founded Thahekhu Village and Khehokhu Village. In Naga social organisation the founding of a village is a matter of standing: villages are the basic units of identity, land-holding and customary authority, and the founder’s line carries a recognised position within them. It is the kind of inheritance that places a family inside a community’s history rather than merely inside its electoral rolls.
Published reporting on Yepthomi consistently describes him as having been an active member of the BJP over a long period, holding a succession of organisational responsibilities as a party worker before any of them carried a title worth reporting.
Formation
Two terms in the youth wing, then the state deputy’s chair
Yepthomi’s path into the state presidency ran through the party’s own structures rather than around them.
He served two consecutive terms as State President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in Nagaland — the BJP’s youth wing, and in most states the place where organisational operators are made. The youth morcha is where cadre are recruited, campaigns are staffed, and the discipline of running a district network is first learned.
From there he became State Vice President of the BJP in Nagaland, a position inside the senior state team, before being elevated to the presidency in 2023.
His continuing regard for that wing is on the record. Inaugurating the BJYM Nagaland president’s office at Burma Camp in Dimapur, he congratulated the youth-wing president V. Khekato Awomi and his team, and said he hoped the office would go beyond political activity to serve a larger purpose — that it should become “a place that works for the welfare of the poor and the needy.”
Campaigns
Election management, at home and elsewhere
Before he led the unit, Yepthomi ran a good deal of its campaign machinery — and was lent to other states when the party needed hands.
- 2018 Nagaland Assembly election. Active in the party’s election management.
- 2023 Nagaland Assembly election. Again active in election management, and in charge of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Dimapur during the campaign — the single largest logistical set-piece of a Nagaland general election.
- Campaigns outside Nagaland. He campaigned for the party in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
- Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan. He organised the national flag campaign in the state.
Profile
The record, in summary
- NameBenjamin Yepthomi
- Current officeState President, Bharatiya Janata Party — Nagaland
- Appointed25 September 2023, by BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda; letter issued by national general secretary Arun Singh
- Assumed office28 September 2023, at the BJP state headquarters, Kohima
- Second termRe-elected unopposed in January 2025, during the party’s Sangathan Parv 2024–25 organisational cycle
- PredecessorTemjen Imna Along, Minister for Tourism and Higher Education, who served two terms
- SequenceEleventh president of the BJP’s Nagaland state unit
- Home districtDimapur, Nagaland
- FamilySon of the late Khehokhu Yepthomi, founder of Thahekhu Village and Khehokhu Village
- Earlier officesState President, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Nagaland (two consecutive terms); State Vice President, BJP Nagaland
- Age at appointmentReported as 45 in September 2023
In his own words
What he says the party is for
“A party is known by its people.”
On assuming office, Kohima, 28 September 2023
“The BJP stands for honesty, transparency, and service.”
On re-election as State President, January 2025
“The future of Nagaland is in our hands, and together, we will ensure it shines brighter than ever before.”
On re-election as State President, January 2025
Addressing the Moatsü festival at Aoyimkum village in Dimapur in May 2026, he made a related argument about the generation the party recruits from — that young people are leaders today rather than merely tomorrow, and that strong moral foundations are essential for a united and progressive society. He encouraged initiative, character-building and active contribution to society, and spoke of spiritual roots and obedience to God.
Editorial note
On what this profile does and does not state
This profile is compiled from published reporting in the Indian and north-eastern press and from statements made by Benjamin Yepthomi on the record. Where a detail — a date, a figure, an early-life fact — is not established in that reporting, it has been left out rather than estimated. Sections are built around what is documented, which is why some conventional biographical categories do not appear here.