Manipur's forgotten comrades fight to regain their lost bastion
Source: The Sangai Express / TNN
Imphal, February 10 2017:
In the 2012 assembly election, the Communist Party of India (CPI) drew a blank.
It was an inglorious milestone for the party � failing to win a seat for the first time since the 1967 assembly election.
As the stage is set yet again, the forgotten comrades of the Manipur political theatre are making a last-ditch attempt to regain their lost foothold.
Forging an alliance with other secular and democratic parties to battle it out with the ruling Congress and BJP, CPI is fighting for its survival.
The Left and Democratic Front (LDF) includes CPI, CPM, NCP, JD (U) and the newly-formed Manipur National Democratic Front (MNDF).
"Manipur is slowly turning Right.
We need to rebuild the movement," admits comrade M Nara Singh, CPI state secretary and LDF convener.
The state has had a long history of a strong Left movement, the forefather of which was the legendary Hijam Irabot Singh.
Today, the leftists find the ground sinking beneath their feet � losing their place not only in the political sphere but also in the Manipuri society.
In the past few years, the various agitations the state has witnessed were all ethnicity-centred, exposing the failure of Left influence.
Nara Singh is optimistic, however, of a better future with the unity of Left, secular and democratic forces.
"We still have hope.
There is a movement of Left unification in the country and we are trying to bring together secular and democratic forces.
In Manipur, the LDF is an outcome of this movement," the CPI leader said.
So who is the Left's enemy in Manipur? "Both," said Nara Singh, referring to the behemoths Congress and BJP.
"India needs to change its electoral system.
Polarization and communalization of elections have done the democracy a whole lot of bad," he said.
He passionately argues that the present Indian electoral system, where money and muscle power play a role in winning, does not favour right-thinking people and the weaker sections of the society.
The irony, then, is that in 2002, the same communist party had played a big role in the rise of Congress chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh to power.
The first Ibobi government was a Congress-CPI coalition called Secular Progressive Front (SPF).
CPI had won five seats.
In 2007, the SPF returned to power, but with CPI's tally having gone down to four.
The second term was a turbulent one and CPI had to pay the price for its partnership with Congress.
The state was rocked by extra-judicial killings, including the killing of a reformed militant, Chungkham Sanjit, and a pregnant woman, Rabina Devi, by police commandos in broad daylight at Imphal market in 2009 .
"When the Sanjit and Rabina case rocked the state, I resigned as SPF convener in protest.
There was a sharp division within the party on whether to continue with or leave the Ibobi government.
People had wanted CPI to withdraw support from the government, but the party decided to continue," Nara Singh said.
It was a historic blunder.
"Later, we had to pay a heavy price for the decision," he added.
By the time the next elections arrived, in 2012, CPI's influence had waned.
Ibobi Singh dumped the party and moved on.
Since, the party's base kept eroding, losing its prominent faces to other parties, even BJP, placed as it is on the diametrically opposite end of the political spectrum.
Once a potent force against Congress, CPI is struggling to find suitable candidates.
LDF has released its first list of 29 candidates and hopes to release another list soon.
CPI, however, is only fielding eight candidates and CPM two.
MNDF and NCP are contesting the other seats.
The lack of resources has become the biggest obstacle for the Left parties.
Nara Singh's fellow-comrade Sotinkumar Singh said it is difficult to win an election in Manipur if a candidate does not have enough cash.
"Everything now depends on how much money you have.
Even if you are a good leader, if you don't have cash, winning an election is out of the question.
We need to change this trend," he said.
Nara Singh sees the larger picture, though.
He attributed the Left's downfall to the new economic policies.
Left parties across the country have also suffered because of a division in the larger Left movement, he said.
"Which is why we came together to form the LDF," the CPI leader said.