One year under the BJP : Significant but too early to judge!
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 12 2018 -
Come March 15th and the State would have completed one full year under the BJP led Government.
What makes the first year in office of the BJP led Govt significant is the fact that this has come about after Manipur was under the Congress for 15 years at a stretch, in the process catapulting O Ibobi as the longest serving Chief Minister of the State.
Prior to him was the late and venerable Rishang Keishing.
It is at moments like this that one is tempted to ask whether O Ibobi will be remembered as the longest serving Chief Minister of Manipur, say after a few decades, or as someone who did something good for the people.
Let history decide that and here it is again important to ask whether N Biren will be remembered more as the man who replaced O Ibobi or as someone who did something meaningful for the people and the place.
Time should be the best judge, but looking at the past one year, one may say that N Biren has succeeded to a large extent in bridging the hill-valley divide.
A divide that was so palpable that before he came to the centre stage, the State Government was often dubbed as the ‘communal Government of Manipur,’ by numerous Naga civil society organisations, particularly the United Naga Council.
It has to be however given that comparing the previous Congress Government with the present BJP led Government may be a little premature, as remember the Congress Government had a full 15 years in power while the BJP led Government is just about to complete one full year in office.
It is however interesting and encouraging to note that the sharp divide between the hills and the valley has been bridged to a large extent, so much so that Chief Minister N Biren can go anywhere in the hill districts without the ‘boycott’ tag hanging over his head.
Not that it is completely out of the vocabulary of the people, but to a great extent the past one year saw little or no bandh or blockade.
This is where due credit should be given to the BJP led Government.
This fact may also explain the positives of being a coalition Government and bringing the NPF on to the Government may be seen as a master political stroke, though it remains that it was the number reality that made the BJP and the NPF sup together in the same Government.
The breaking of ties between the NPF and the BJP at Nagaland may or may not have any impact on the coalition Government here, but it is significant to note that a party that was seen as an untouchable by many during the time of the previous Government is today very much as a part of the Government.
This is what is noteworthy.
Throwing open the high gate of the Chief Minister to the hoi polloi on the 10th and 15th of every month under Meeyamgi Numit and Hill Leaders’ Day is again a significant step in the sense that the Chief Minister himself is ready to listen to the grievances of the common people.
The Chief Ministergi Hakshelgi Tengbang is another step that really went down well with the people of Manipur and one only hopes that all these do not end up as an exercise in playing to the gallery.
The interesting question now is whether the BJP led Government has anything new to offer to the people in its second year in office.
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