Gangmumei Kamei : More than a Professor :: Making it to the NEC
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 03 2015 -

To many he is Oja. A teacher, a mentor, a guide and at times even a friend.

To the outside world he is widely known as an educationist and a researcher, particularly on subjects of relevance to the North East region.

A Professor of History at Manipur University, Gangmumei Kamei will be known not only for what he taught inside the classroom but also for his keen sense of observation and ability to strike a chord with almost anyone and perhaps here lies the most likeable aspect of the man.

What set apart the Professor from the man in him is his ability to get his ideas across to the young people outside the classrooms.

A quality which cannot be attributed to all teachers or Professors.

The journey from the University classrooms to the North Eastern Council has indeed been long and in between Professor Gangmumei Kamei or Professor Kamei, as he is more popularly known to everyone, dabbled with politics too.

In fact his association with politics may be remembered with his foray into the stage of electioneering when he contested the Assembly election from Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency back in 1980.

For a man who was not tied down by any shackles of community line, his support base ranged from the Zeliangrong community to the Meiteis and others.

Here, significant to note that Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency has a large number of voters from the Zeliangrong community with at least three settlements spread all over the place.

The teaching community in particular also backed him to the hilt.

That the good Professor did not win is a different matter, but his extremely good showing at the hustings back then is a testimony of the good old days when there was no such thing as deep divides along community line in Manipur.

The 1980 defeat did not make him lose heart for he never bade adieu to election or politics.

It was in line with this that Professor Gangmumei Kamei, in association with some other noted personalities of Manipur University, went ahead and founded the Federal Party of Manipur (FPM) sometime in the early stage of the 90s.

The FPM did creditably well the first time it contested the election and Professor Gangmumei Kamei got elected from Nungba Assembly Constituency, defeating the present Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam.

The FPM also returned other candidates to the State Assembly. With the Manipur People’s Party just a pale shadow of its former self, the FPM gradually became the main regional political party, taking the fight to the stable of the Congress.

The honeymoon with fortune however did not last long and soon the FPM merged with the MPP and today it is a has been political party.

The FPM is in the past tense now, but there is nothing to suggest that the respect the Professor commands has diminished one bit.

Tough to say how Professor Kamei will fare in his latest avatar as a member of the NEC, but more than likely that he will acknowledge the immense trust that the people have reposed in him for years.

Perhaps the Professor may be in a better position to contribute his mite to not only Manipur but also to the whole North East region.