The heat & dust of TNL polls
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: September 17, 2013 -

Few days back, the media in-charge of ADC Ukhrul had reacted sharply to a news report published on the hush-hush talk doing the round about the possibility of the ruling Congress party looking for political bedfellow in the ensuing elections of the Tangkhul Naga Long (TNL), the apex assembly and highest socio-political institution of the Tangkhul community.

Whether or not the ruling Congress party is actually trying to project its own candidate/s in the election slated to be held on September 18 is still a hush-hush matter apart from the pointers that one could feel, see and heard here and there from the snatches of the talks among the tribesmen at the road side hotels and street corners of Ukhrul town as the D-Day approaches fast.

And, this was exactly what the media in-charge of ADC Ukhrul had taken strong exception to, basing the report on what he termed as the ‘smells of street and Bazar talks’.

But if one tries to study and understand the real nature of politics in Manipur, one could see that real politics and discussion on important issues of the State could be found in the road side tea stalls rather than on the floor of the State Assembly or inside the conference hall of the State Cabinet or for that matter on any other political platform.

Such is the importance of these seamless talks in the roadside hotels over a cup of tea that many a Government could be made and unmade.

Considering the influence and the role that Tangkhul Naga Long (TNL) has been playing in the affairs of Naga political movement over the years, the election to the apex Tangkhul body has, understandably, always generated some heat and dust in the past with various push and pull factors at play.

So, the reported abduction of Jonathan Kashung, one of the Presidential candidates in the fray for the top post of the man who would be leading and deciding the fate of the community for the next five years, has not come as much of a surprise.

But what has come as a surprise in the abduction episode this time was the hush-hush manner in which the report of the abduction remained for two days before the otherwise vocal Tangkhul frontal organisations finally came up with an appeal to the responsible party for the safe and secure release of Jonathan Kashung.

A resident of Shingkap village under Phungyar sub-division of Ukhrul district, Jonathan is said to have been abducted by unidentified persons from Phungreitang area of Ukhrul district headquarters at around 9.40 am on September 13 last.

But the police were even kept in the dark until the Tangkhul frontal and zonal bodies held a joint sitting on Saturday and resolved to issue an appeal for his safe release.

Now, even if one may or may not have the courage to speak out who could be behind the abduction and captivity of a Presidential candidate when the election is just two days away, everything would be surely as clear as daylight in case Jonathan Kashung comes out to withdraw his candidature for the post of TNL president.

But God forbid anything untoward happen to him.

That would be a great shame for the whole Tangkhul community who have always lived up to the principle of federal democracy since time immemorial.