Prof Kamei : On the comeback trail ? Question of political survival or...
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 20, 2013 -

Prof Gangmumei Kamei presenting a gift to a senior citizen on October 01 2008 :: Pix - TSE

A come back ? No, in two sense.

One it is still too early to say this. Second, he has never been away from the public consciousness to merit that he is on the come back trail.

On 31st January 2013, the State unit of the BJP announced the admission of Professor Gangmumei Kamei into its fold.

Whether this would mark the beginning of the come back process, as understood in its conventional meaning, is a different thing, but then Professor Kamei has never been away from the spotlight, at least amongst those who follow the viewpoints and comments of people who have something significant to say or more importantly amongst those closely associated with the world of academics.

Age is certainly not on his side, but then again age may not be the defining criteria to judge the capability of a man as a politician. Mr Rishang Keishing is a living example.

1980 may have seen his entry into the electoral politics of the State, contesting from Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency, but the politician in Professor Kamei really came to the fore with the formation of the Federal Party of Manipur in the early part of the 1990s.

The election to the State Legislative Assembly in 1995 heralded the arrival of a new regional political party in the State. This was at that point of time when the Manipur People’s Party had perhaps taken its first step towards the political wilderness in which it finds itself in today.

In its debut, the FPM did credibly well, with Prof Kamei and Dr W Thoiba getting elected to the Assembly. It was only a matter of time before it began to emerge as the regional party of the State, upstaging the MPP on all front.

That the Manipur State Congress Party tom tommed itself as a regional party had few takers as many saw it as nothing less than a surrogate of the Congress party.

However the honeymoon with the voters or the public did not last long, as by 2002 the FPM had disbanded itself and merged with the MPP, a move for which there has been no explicable explanation till date.

From an independent candidate in 1980 in Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency who gave a tough fight to the ultimate winner, Radhabinod Koijam, to founding the Federal Party of Manipur in the early 90s to getting elected from Nungba Assembly Constituency in 1995 and donning different mantle in the Council of Ministers till 2001 to now joining the BJP, the political journey of Professor Kamei has indeed been a roller coaster ride.

The interesting question is whether he will find his moorings in the BJP or whether the BJP will benefit from associating itself with him.

A man who made it to the political stage of Manipur by bandying the principles of federalism and regionalism to now joining a mainstream political party, which is far removed from regionalism, Professor Kamei sure has helped in giving a more defining statement to the understanding that nothing is possible in politics.

Political survival ? Maybe. Or ideological affiliation ? Only the man can answer these posers, but the timing is significant.

In less than a year India will go in for her Parliamentary election. With the equation being such that regional political parties from the North East have little or no scope to make an impact on Delhi, the option then is either the Congress or the BJP or for the die hard Leftists, the Left parties.

The latest move of Professor Kamei then may be seen against this backdrop.

How the dice rolls in the coming days still remains in the realm of reading the tea leaves or gazing at the crystal ball, but the fact is no leader in Manipur has been able to survive politically without the blessing of the party in power at Delhi or has a pan India appeal.

So it is that it is a toss up between the Congress and the BJP.