From blue eyed boy of UNC to now ostracised : Topsy turvy world of politics
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 16 , 2014 -
Allies then, now foes : Mani Charenamei :: Pix - TSE
The decision of the United Naga Council to socially boycott former MP from the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency Mani Charenamei is not only a boycott call of a single individual, but is also an indication of how dicey can some political demands or aspirations such as the Alternative Arrangement for the Nagas of Manipur can be.
It should also be seen in the context of the recent Lok Sabha election in which the NPF candidate Soso Lorho was clean bowled by the Congress candidate Thangso Baite.
It is not the case of The Sangai Express to say whether the decision of Mani Charenamei to contest the election was against the interest of the Naga people or not, but to be sure it was a personal choice on the part of the former MP. A sort of a rebel candidate ?
Hard to say, but it was a personal choice but as things have unfolded now, that personal choice is today seen as something against the interest of the Naga people if the decision of the UNC is anything to go by.
The Sangai Express is not privy to the circumstances that made Mani Charenamei to throw in his hat in the electoral ring as an independent candidate, but to be sure not all the Nagas of Manipur were happy with the decision of the NPF to field Soso Lorho.
This is not an affront on Mr Lorho or a critique on the decision of the NPF, but it is nevertheless significant and interesting to note that the redoubtable Dr Nelson Vashum, a man of standing amongst the Tangkhul community, had written in The Sangai Express, not once but twice, on the wisdom of the collective leadership of the NPF to field Soso Lorho.
Whether Mani Charenamei shared the same line of thought or not is not for us to say but his decision to contest the election as an Independent candidate sounds like he too was not satisfied with the choice of the NPF.
The blue eyed boy of the UNC, when he successfully contested the election as the UNC sponsored candidate in the 2004 Parliamentary election to now being ostracised by the same UNC and this lives up to the topsy turvy world of politics, where the only thing certain is its uncertainty.
The UNC has interpreted the decision of Mani Charenamei to contest the election as mobilizing a movement against the demand of an Alternative Arrangement for the Nagas of Manipur outside the Government of Manipur, pending a final solution to the Indo-Naga issue.
Given the fact that the UNC has left no stone unturned to convey the message that the Alternative Arrangement demand is the collective voice of the Nagas, it is hard to imagine that a single individual would dare to mobilise the Naga people against this voice. This is where the chinks emerge.
Is the collective voice ‘so weak’ that the UNC feels threatened by the singular act and decision of an individual to contest the election as an independent candidate ?
True, Charenamei may have eaten into the vote share of Soso Lorho.
True he may have acted against the suggestions and advices of the Naga social leaders but it was a personal choice and for a man who has been at the forefront of the demand for an Alternative Arrangement all these years it is surprising that the UNC has now accused him of mobilizing the Naga people against the Alternative Arrangement demand.
A case of electoral politics entering the sphere of the political, social and economic aspirations of a community or ethnic group ?
Whichever way one looks at it, it does not augur well for the political aspirations of the Naga people as a whole.
This at a time, when NPF MP Nephiu Rio has been raising his voice in Parliament in the first sitting (though for a short time) and knocking at the doors of Delhi to resolve the Indo-Naga issue at the earliest possible.
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