Candidate from ruling party biting the dust : The verdict of the people
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 05, 2024 -

Many remarkable firsts.

This is the first time that the candidate of the ruling party has been made to bite the dust in the Lok Sabha elections in the Inner Parliamentary Constituency in the last 20/25 years.

Again this is the first time that the margin of victory in the Inner seat has crossed the one lakh mark.

The 'biting the dust' line should also be seen in the backdrop of the fact that of the 32 Assembly Constituencies which come under the Inner Parliamentary Constituency, the BJP came out top in only 10 Constituencies - Keirao, Andro, Heingang, Sekmai, Konthoujam, Nambol, Oinam, Bishnupur, Thanga and Kumbi and the rest 22 fell into the kitty of the Congress.

In the Outer Parliamentary Constituency too, the NPF candidate backed by the BJP seems set to bite the dust trailing by over 60,000 votes to the Congress candidate.

A huge setback it would be for the BJP, which is already under fire from different quarters in the backdrop of the ongoing ethnic clash that has crossed the 365 days mark and has claimed over 200 lives, displaced thousands with many still missing.

As noted in earlier commentaries in this very column, the outcome of the Lok Sabha election would be some sort of a referendum on the conduct of the BJP led Government in the backdrop of the ethnic clash which has crossed the one year mark.

And this cuts both ways, for the Kuki-Zo dominated places voted heavily in favour of the Congress candidate to the loss of the NPF candidate who was backed by the BJP.

The message is clear, the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zos are not at all happy with the way the BJP led Governments, both at Delhi and Imphal, have responded to the human crisis here.

To many voters in the Inner Parliamentary Constituency in Th Basantakumar the BJP candidate, They saw a reluctant candidate, best exemplified by the fact that the saffron party was not able to announce the name of its candidate until the last minute, which is something uncharacteristic of the party in power.

This surely did weigh heavily in the minds of the voters, while in Prof Angomcha Bimol Akoijam the people saw a Congress candidate who was able to tell the story of Manipur to the rest of the country and to the outside world.

If the ongoing clash had the BJP hard pressed to present an acceptable face to carry the flag of the party to the hustings, the Congress managed to find such a face and this is best reflected in the huge victory margin.

This cuts across the two Parliamentary Constituencies and perhaps this is best exemplified by the fact that the saffron party instead of fielding its own candidate in the Outer seat, preferred to back the candidate of its ally the NPF.

Threats and muscle power cannot silence the people for long and in many ways one may see the success of the two Congress candidates as people speaking out against this trend.

As the Facebook status shared by an observant man or woman put it, 'It is not so much in the victory of the Congress candidate that one sees people rejoicing and hailing the verdict, but the fact that the people cannot be cowed down by threats and intimidations,' and this should sum up the reality, a reality that the powers that be should acknowledge.

Having said this, what can be expected from the men who have just received the mandate of the people? Will the outcome of this election make any difference to Manipur on the floor of the Lok Sabha?

This is a question which only the elected Members can answer, but remember Manipur has had too many representatives sitting on the reserved bench of Parliament, when in fact issues besieging the place and her people should be highlighted with good effect on the floor of the highest decision making institution of the country.

Professor Bimol Akoijam has already demonstrated his calibre in putting across the idea of Manipur on the different platforms where he has had the opportunity and one hopes this is taken forward.

The first priority obviously should be to explore all possible means to put Manipur on the track of normalcy for remember the crisis has dragged on for over one year and too many people have died.

Thousands of people continue to survive in the different relief centres set up across the State and Manipur cannot afford to continue like this.

And obviously the floor of the Lok Sabha is the best place to spell out the position of Manipur.