Impact of the visits of Central leaders : The visit of PM Modi
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 09 2019 -

He came and delivered a talk.

Whether he really saw or conquered the hearts and minds of the people can only be said when the vote results are declared but it stands that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Manipur more than earlier Prime Ministers the country has seen.

This is what will set him apart from the earlier Prime Ministers.

This however does not answer the question of whether the ‘frequent visits’ will translate into vote for understanding the voting behaviour of the people here is tough, very tough and parameters used in other parts of the country may not exactly work here.

After BJP National president Amit Shah, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who came here to campaign for the BJP underlining the point that he is the star campaigner of the BJP by any stretch of the imagination.

Significant to note too that other than the PM and Amit Shah, no other Central BJP leaders have come here to canvass for vote, thereby highlighting the fact that the two are the safest and the best vote catchers of the saffron party.

This is something which no other political parties can lay claim to, for remember other than Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has not deemed it wise or convenient to send any other Central leader to Manipur.

Priyanka Gandhi is there but so far her activities seem to centre on Uttar Pradesh, which gets to send 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

It is also interesting to note that D Raja, the National Council Secretary of the CPI and a Rajya Sabha member had deemed it fit to come here and campaign for the CPI candidate Dr M Nara, a move which must have been noted by the people.

D Raja is no stranger to Manipur and anyone who has been following the newspapers would remember him as a political leader from the CPI to have spoken out on issues concerning Manipur on many occasions earlier.

That he should raise the banner of total scrapping of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act can be seen as a political move to blunt the promise of the Congress that it would amend the said Army Act.

Other than the BJP, Congress and the CPI, it is also significant to note that the NPF leaders from Nagaland had come here to campaign for the NPF candidate in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency and so too had Conrad Sangma to bat for the NPP candidate in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency.

So Manipur has seen the Prime Minister, the BJP president, the chief of the AICC, the head of the NPP, leaders of the NPF and D Raja canvassing for their respective candidates but it is yet to be known whether the high profile visits of these leaders will tilt the favour on their side.

And remember too that there are serious candidates from the NEIDP in the Outer Constituency and an Independent in the Inner Parliamentary Constituency.

All in all people need to exercise their franchise rights judiciously for the push of the button on the EVM will decide the course for the next five years.

The right to vote should always go together with the responsibility that comes along with the right.