Nephiu Rio : Man with a mission : Making right noises at Delhi
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 09 , 2014 -

He may have earned the ire of the people of Manipur, correction Meiteis in particular, when he dubbed Chief Minister O Ibobi the biggest enemy of the Nagas while canvassing for the NPF candidate in Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency some time back.

The fact however is, Mr Rio is a personality who cannot be ignored.

Either one likes him (adhere to his political ideologies and beliefs) or do not like him (abhor his political aspirations) but one cannot be indifferent to him.

This is his standing on the political firmament in the North East, particularly in Nagaland and to a great extent in Manipur.

Now that he has shifted base to Delhi, getting elected to the Lok Sabha, Rio has not been keeping quiet and in a way this is where he outscores the representatives sent by Manipur to the lower House of Parliament.

It is not yet 30 days since the result of the election to the Lok Sabha was announced and barely two weeks since the BJP led NDA Government was sworn in, but already Rio has made his focus clear, if reports coming in from Nagaland and Delhi are anything to go by.

That he was left out in stage one of the Ministry formation is another matter, but Rio seems to be knocking at the right doors with his political agenda, that is to expedite the dialogue between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India and bring an early solution.

The politician in him also came to the fore when his spokesperson made it a point to bring to the notice of the media the wishes and congratulations extended to the newly appointed Speaker of the Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan on behalf of Nagaland, the NPF and the North East Regional Parties Front, of which he is the convenor.

His assurance that he would extend all his co-operation to the Speaker is what is expected from a seasoned politician. No one knows how the two MPs from Manipur greeted the Speaker.

Maybe they did, but no thought was given to bring it to the notice of the media and hence the public.

Poor public relations management or simply not bothered about conveying what they are doing at Delhi ?

Pointing out that he is the one and only MP to represent a State, Nagaland in this case, Mr Rio delivered a meaningful political statement.

It was not just an exercise in enumerating the number of MPs from Nagaland, but in many ways it was an implied message that since he is the only one representing a State, the importance of his voice should not be undermined.

It is early days yet and no one knows how he will perform in the coming days as an MP, but already Mr Rio seems determined to let the people know what his focus is going to be. Not at all bad for a first time MP.

Not something which can be said about the two MPs from Manipur.

True, as a partner of the NDA, Mr Rio may have more accessibility to the power centres at Delhi, but it should not be forgotten that the same two Congress MPs were at Delhi when the Congress led UPA Government was in power at the Centre for the last 10 years.

Where do they stand on the performance scale ?

This is not a comparison but more of a study on the performances of the MPs from Nagaland and Manipur.

Having said this, whether one agrees with Mr Rio’s political agenda or not, it stands true that he is a man one cannot ignore and he seems ready to take this a notch or two higher, if his recent activities in Delhi and the manner in which efforts have been put in to bring them to the notice of the public are anything to go by.