Political face of Thangmeiband AC :: Former CM to a man sans party
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 27, 2012 -

If death is the greatest leveller of life, then the troughs of the highs and lows may be said to be the greatest leveller in the life of a politician.

From former Chief Minister of Manipur to former MLA to now a man without a party, the highs and lows in the political career of Radhabinod Koijam paints a colourful story.

As in life, nothing is certain in politics and it would not only be premature but also foolish to write the epitaph of the man who has been the political face of Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency for decades.

That things were not hunky dory within the State unit of the Nationalist Congress Party is something that became clear from the moment the charges and counter charges started hitting the front pages of the Imphal based newspapers.

The expulsion part may have come as some sort of a shocker to some, but that is how the dice rolls in the topsy turvy world of politics, where nothing is given and nothing is taken.

The real internal squabble in the State unit of the NCP is best known to the insiders, but it would be wrong to dismiss the role that Mr Koijam played in helping the party find a foothold in Manipur.

Without taking away the credits of the others, it may not be entirely wrong to say that the NCP managed to become the largest party on the Opposition bench in the last Assembly riding on his personality.

The games of politics may expel this to the junk yard of history, but the figure in the last Assembly is something which no one can change.

It would be naive to hazard a guess on the next move from Mr Koijam, but it will not need any guessing to say that he must surely have something up his sleeve, which may or may not catch his bete' noires on the wrong foot.

Which way the wind blows is something which only time can tell, but the last thing on Mr Koijam is yet to be said. This is a certainty.

Radhabinod Koijam may be remembered as a man who occupied the chair of Chief Minister for one of the shortest times in the post Statehood history of Manipur.

This however should not cloud the bold and unpopular decisions that he took during his short stint as the Chief Minister. No one, either before or after him, has declared a unilateral ceasefire with the underground outfits.

No one, in such a short stint as the Chief Minister, had the courage to axe numerous contract Government employees on the ground that they were big drains on the State exchequer.

The latter decision obviously would not have gone down well with many people and this perhaps was one reason why he lost the election the next time, to BJP's Meinam Bhorot.

In the election to the 10th Assembly, Radhabinod Koijam was not in the race at all, coming a distant third. And now from former Chief Minister to a man without a political party, and this perhaps is part of the highs and lows in the life of a political careerist, as has been said before.

At the moment it may be read as the rumblings within a single political party, the NCP, but it has the potential to spread and impact on the overall politics of Manipur.

It is early days yet, but a few years hence, it has the potential to morph from the stage of one up manship between two political personalities within a political party, to something bigger.

In his expulsion from the NCP, Mr Koijam may have just found the spring board to jump into the bigger arena, where he held sway for decades donning different hats.