The NE on the electoral map of India :: Judicious choice : The need
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 10 , 2014 -
Narendra Modi was here and so was Rahul Gandhi.
An indication that the major political parties have come around to the idea that the ‘chicken neck’ syndrome, which is symbolic of the mental divide between the people of the North East region and the rest of the country is passe’ or dictated by the compulsion of the political reality that the days of the one party rule is over and each MP counts ?
The latter is more likely, though the North East States, including Sikkim get to send only 25 MPs to the Lok Sabha. Political equations have certainly changed and in as much as the two principal political parties of the country have placed due importance to the region, at least during election times, it is heartening to see the people respond and recognise the importance of the election to the Lok Sabha.
A welcome departure from the earlier days when the people by and large did not pay much heed to the Lok Sabha election, and even dubbing it a Delhi election.
This can be discerned not only from the visits of the two Prime Ministerial candidates, but also from the keen interest shown by the general public to the election as well as the intense campaign launched by the candidates and their political parties.
A far cry from the days when any visit by a Central leader to the region was taken as some sort of a foreign sojourn and who verbally criss crossed the entire region with promises and more promises and rounded off with foundation stone laying sprees.
Top this with the recent observation made by the State media of China that the North East region remains the most neglected parts in the country along with the Look East Policy, which Delhi has been pursuing with a purpose and a pattern emerges.
The final word however is yet to be said, for it is still unclear where the North East exactly stands in Delhi’s overall scheme of things.
With each MP counting it is but natural for the major political parties, especially the BJP and the Congress not to give a miss to the region during election time, but the question is, have these parties or the leaders helming these political organisations really understood the issues besieging the region, especially Manipur ?
In most likelihood the answer would be in the negative.
It is against this background that the first phase of polling has been held in Manipur.
In the hills, it will probably be not a question of between Rahul Gandhi and the much trumped NaMo wave that is reported to be sweeping across the other parts of the country, but ethnic issues, especially the demand for a political dialogue raised by the groups under the SoO pact as well as the Naga issue, which was the calling card of Mr Nephiu Rio as well as numerous frontal organisations of the Nagas in Manipur.
Two seats but largely different agenda and maybe this was the reason which compelled the BJP to come out with two election manifestoes, one for the Outer and one for the Inner.
Whether this will go down well with the voters or not is a different thing, but the politics of pulls and push cannot be missed in this one single act of the BJP.
Now that the election in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency is over, all attention will be turned towards the Inner Parliamentary Constituency which goes to polls on April 17.
To be sure some fire fights, read verbal duel between the Congress and the BJP can be expected but judging from the present trend, it is most likely to be more about lung power rather than meaningful debates and even discussions.
A sure shot recipe to confuse the voters on who to vote for, something which does not tally with the changing political reality across the country, where each MP counts.
Number is a factor to be sure and this is all the more reason why the people need to make a judicious choice while voting for Manipur to make its presence felt on the floor of the Parliament.
Make the coming five years more meaningful and give substance to the campaigns of Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi.
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