He came, he ‘saw’ and we saw : NaMo wave gives BJP the first round
- Sangai Express Editorial :: February 10, 2014 -

BJP Party's Prime Ministerial candidate and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi arrives at Imphal :: 08 Feb 2014 :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

It may not necessarily translate into votes, but yes it is beyond an iota of doubt that the public meeting at Langjing Achouba playground on February 8 was more than Mr Modi, the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP addressing the mammoth gathering, but was more like a date with the NaMo wave that is sweeping across some parts of the country.

For a party which does not have a single MLA in the State Legislative Assembly, it says something very significant that the February 8 public meeting was one of the ‘largest gatherings of people at a political rally in the State.’

A powerful observation on the drawing capacity of the man from Gujarat.

The State BJP has pegged the number of participants at the meeting at around one lakh, but we would like to put it at a little below the one lakh figure.

Now it is more than clear that to many people of Manipur, Mr Narendra Modi is more than just the Chief Minister of Gujarat but a man who has been able to inspire quite a lot of people. v This is extremely important in the face of the fact that apart from the BJP drawing a blank in the last Assembly election, it virtually has no grass root level workers in the State, especially in the Outer Parliamentary seat, but already the NaMo wave appears to have sent ripples amongst the people, if the turn out at Langjing Achouba is anything to go by.

Narendra Modi played to the gallery no doubt, but to his credit, it can be said that he had the wisdom to fall back on Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Not withstanding the June 14 Bangkok Declaration and the June 18 uprising in which many people laid down their lives at the altar of the territorial integrity of the State, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee is right up there in the estimation of the people as a former Prime Minister rubbing shoulders with the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

Referring to his tenure was a political master stroke, for it was during the time of Vajpayee that the Centre created a different office/institution for the North East in the name of DoNER.

There were promises galore, but these promises, like any other promises made at an election rally need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

He came, he did not exactly see Manipur, but the people did see a man who had the capacity to bring in the crowd and for a party which has no grass root level workers, this is an achievement. Round one seems to have gone to the BJP, at the moment.

A telling message that the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister can no longer take comfort under the one line statement, ‘The NaMo wave will not impact on the North East region.’

The man from Gujarat was again bang on target in reminding the people that in the last 23 years in which the present Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has represented Assam in the Rajya Sabha, no worthwhile progress has been made.

A powerful punch, but a punch not below the belt and this is where Modi scores. The man from Gujarat however did not seem to have a blue print for Manipur.

Other than promising to crack down on the ‘corrupt Congress leaders’ he did not spell out a road map for progress as well as tackle the issue of insurgency in the State.

Maybe the one day visit was too short, but a power point presentation on his vision of Manipur, five years or ten years down the line would have been the icing on the cake.

That he failed to do so and took recourse to strike a chord with the people over the death of Nido Tania from Arunachal Pradesh seemed more like an attempt to capitalise on an emotive issue.

It is here that political leaders need to be reminded that riding on the emotions of the people invariably means giving rational thoughts and mature approach the back seat.

How the Congress and others who are staunchly opposed to the ideology of the BJP respond to the NaMo effect remains to be seen, but for the moment, it is the BJP which has ‘won’ the first round.

The final word of course is yet to be said.