New breed entering electoral politics : Immense change one saw
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 06, 2024 -

The significance of it all is beginning to sink in gradually.

This is for the second time that the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency has elected someone not from the ruling party to represent the people on the floor of the Lok Sabha.

The last time Manipur saw a man from outside the ruling party representing them in the Lower House of Parliament was back in 1980 when the late Ngangom Mohendra of the CPI was elected.

Again for the first time Manipur saw an election wherein the candidate or the party managed to win the people's trust and confidence based on issues and not on muscle and money power by a record breaking margin.

As a conscientious and erudite young man put it on his Facebook wall, the 2024 Lok Sabha election saw a new breed entering electoral politics and in the process gave birth and form to a new understanding of campaigning, a campaign team comprising of members who generally stay away from the hurly burly world of electoral politics, deeming it to be 'dirty', something not to be touched with a barge pole.

It was this new breed of campaigners who took up the task of injecting energy, ideas and reached out to the people with the idea of Manipur and struck a chord with the masses.

The energetic young men and women who joined the campaign team did so not to curry favour or because they expect kickbacks in the form of lucrative contract works in the coming days or to be near the power centres but because they identify with the ideas and principles floated by the candidate in question, is how the status of the young man summed it up.

Ideas come from education, it is not something which can be picked up via brawns or money power and if at all there is something to be picked up and embraced from the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the results of which were announced on June 4, 2024, then it is the indispensability of taking the educational qualification of the man standing for election into account.

This is what the people found in MP elect Professor Angomcha Bimol Akoijam of the Congress and one hopes this refreshingly new approach to the election is not a flash in the pan, but is a trend that catches on, spread and influence all later elections.

The feel good factor that the outcome of the election has generated cannot be missed and open any social media sites and one is bound to find many inspiring, thought provoking and encouraging shares from the young men and women and one just hopes that this new approach catches on.

How much per voter, was not the popular line in the case of the MP elect in the run up to the Lok Sabha election this time, rather it was all about the talk centering on his prospect and what one expects him to do once he is sent to the Lok Sabha.

The grey matter matters is the one line punch that the people have delivered and all those who believed and lived under the assumption that the people can be brow beaten into quiet submission with their muscle power should eat humble pie.

The people of Manipur have given solid credence to the line, adversity brings out the best in men and women, and this should not be lost on those who thought they could throw their weight around under the alibi of doing something for the land and the people.

The election was held under trying circumstances.

And it was under this trying time that people decided who should represent them on the floor of Parliament when the need to speak out for Manipur was never felt as strongly as now and back oh April 19 and 26.

One hopes the maturity and good sense demonstrated now is not a fleeting moment for in as much as the election is about deciding the fate of the candidates in the fray, it is also about deciding the fate of the people and the land, at least for the next five years.

The road ahead will certainly not be smooth, given the fact that there is always something called the party line, but this should no longer be taken as the excuse for the meek show demonstrated by the representatives of the people in the not so recent as well as the distant past.

For the people too, it would be wise and practical not to expect miracles, but appreciate the efforts that may be made to present the story of Manipur on the floor of the highest decision making body in the country.

This is also the time to remember that in a democracy, the representatives are there to serve the people and not the other way.