The post mortem
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 19, 2009 -

The pro-Congress wave that swept the rest of the country too swept the North East, particularly Manipur, where the Ibobi Singh led Government ensured that his party returned a cent percent success rate. Two out of two is a fantastic result by any standard. Take the Rajya Sabha MP, Rishang Keishing and we have the Congress on a roll in the State.

In fact ever since the Congress was voted to an overwhelming success in the election to the 8th Assembly, everything has been going right for Mr Ibobi and this was best accentuated by the success of the Congress in the by polls that were held after the election.

If fortune continued to smile on the Congress then the reverse, by the same degree, may be said of the Opposition, particularly the Manipur People's Party. When the dates for the Parliamentary election were announced nobody gave much thought to the prospect of the Congress, particularly after it named Dr T Meinya in the Inner and Thangso Baite in the Outer.

The reasons are not far to seek. In the last Parliament, Dr Meinya did not make much of an impact and this was seized by the Opposition, particularly the MPP. On the other hand, when the Congress zeroed in on Thangso Baite, it took everyone by surprise for Mr Baite is a relatively political light weight.

However as things stand today, the choices Congress have been proven true and the sceptics have had to eat their words. This brings us to the question of where the Opposition MPP and the other political parties, particularly the CPI in the Inner seat and the PDA in the Outer seat went wrong.

Without demeaning the personal standing of the Congress MPs, we will not be stretching things too far if we are to say that it was not Mr Meinya or Mr Baite who won the election but the Congress !

By the same yardstick, we may say that it was not Dr Nara who lost the election but the CPI and certainly not Mr Chaoba but the MPP. In the Outer seat, the same yardstick may not be applicable, but nevertheless it will not be wrong to say that the defeat of Mr Charenamei had more to do with the people rejecting the organisation which backed him, than the personal loss of the candidate.

This brings us to the question of where the other parties went wrong. The MPP, which was once the one and only political party to pose a threat to the Congress is today a pale shadow of its earlier self, reduced to a caricature. It was their glaring failure to come up with any imaginative agenda that failed to woo the voters.

Okay, revoking the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from Manipur is an issue which is dear to the hearts of all the people here, but the problem is, almost all the MPP men were at one time or the other at the helm of affairs in the State in their earlier avatars as Congress men or MSCP men. Herein lies the catch.

As for Dr Nara, the man had the general goodwill of everyone cutting across political lines and party affiliations, but the fact stands that there is only so much that the charisma of an individual can do. There must be the party for him to fall back on, the party to provide the logistics, but sadly, the Left was not in a position to do so.

Moreover the general impression of the Left parties across the country after it withdrew support to the UPA over the US Nuke deal must have played on the minds of the thinking persons.

As for Mr Charenamei what is there left to be said ? It was not only a defeat for the PDA candidate but it was more a defeat for the organisation which sponsored him.

There is a message here !