Journey from Nagaland to others : Hollow halo of star campaigner
- Sangai Express Editorial :: March 25, 2014 -

Star campaigner. Long before the think tank of the Naga People’s Front put the halo of star campaigner on Mr Nephiu Rio, The Sangai Express had done this, calling him a star campaigner for the NPF, when he came here to campaign for the party’s candidates in the election to the 10th Lok Sabha election.

Whether the candidates made it on their own steam or whether the presence of Mr Rio with his trademark goatee and designer sun glasses and suits and boots boosted their chances, the fact is the NPF today has four MLAs in the 60 member House of the Manipur Legislative Assembly.

Something very different from the performance of the Manipur People’s Party and the BJP which failed to send a single representative to the Assembly.

Certainly the NPF has come a long away or rather progressed from the Nagaland People’s Front to Naga People’s Front and it is not only Manipur which it has set its eyes upon, if the stated intention to field its own candidates in Arunachal Pradesh is anything to go by. This much is true.

Now the NPF has gone one step ahead and named Mr Rio as one of the star campaigners amongst 40 such campaigners who will be canvassing for Mr Soso Lorho in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency.

But there is the need to get down to the nitty gritty of electoral politics to really understand why the tag of star campaigner sits so comfortably on the head of Mr Rio.

Every political party have their own agenda and in highlighting the supposed cause of the Naga people living in Manipur, even going to the extent of dubbing Mr Ibobi, the Chief Minister of Manipur as communal during his last visit to Tamenglong, Mr Rio certainly knows how to play to the gallery.

The question however is, will a single agenda at the cost of others’ interests and aspirations really make someone a star ?

The Sangai Express had its reason to call him a star campaigner in the last Assembly election here, for in contrast to the other veteran political leaders from Manipur, he did show that his appeal cuts across the geographical boundary of Nagaland.

However on hindsight, should championing the perceived cause of a people to the seeming detriment of others really make a political leader a star campaigner ?

This is the question that one should now ask onself, if the term star campaigner is to have any meaning or substance.

Has Mr Rio been able to break free from the Naga centric approach to fit the bill of a star campaigner ?

Will his appeal cut ice with those who do not belong to the great Naga family ?

The answer should lie in the failure of the NPF to field a candidate in the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency.

This is where The Sangai Express would like to put a corrigendum to its earlier observation in calling him a star campaigner.

Sure he has been able to cross the boundary of Nagaland, but he has not been able to win the other communities and this is where his biggest drawback lies.

Not very long back, a certain Praveen Togadia was a fiery speaker or an orator for the right wing Hindus, and though he was not a professional politician, he did manage to serve as the rallying point for the radical Hindus, which in turn meant a bonus point for the BJP.

But did it make him a star campaigner ? Now that Mr Rio has decided to throw his hat into National politics and contest the Lok Sabha poll from Nagaland, perhaps it is time for him to shed his Naga centric approach and try to see the North East from a larger canvass.

In championing the cause of the Naga people, he should also be seen as a leader championing the cause of the people cutting across communal and ethnic divides.

How successful he has been in doing this is there for one and all to see.

To be sure amongst the Naga people he may be seen as a star campaigner, but leaders, true leaders should be able to transcend ethnic and communal divides.

Come March 25 or 26 and Manipur will know if he has been able to emerge from the narrow confines of talking on behalf of only one particular community or ethnic group.

One lesson that the NPF supremo should learn is the MPP experience.

In many ways, the MPP is what it is today, because it failed in more than one way in conveying the message that it speaks and does for the whole of Manipur and not only for one community.