Upbeat Cong making all right noises The PR conundrum
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It is advantage Cong for now and it has been making all the right noises so far. Also trust the oldest political party in the country to top the right noises with blows where it hopes to make a statement, a big political statement. So even as former Chief Minister O Ibobi struck the right chord in asserting that the Modi-Shah duo at Delhi is not keen on letting the State unit of the BJP form the Government despite enjoying a clear majority with 32 MLAs, the party managed to land punches on both Delhi and the State unit of the BJP in one observation. One for not letting the elected BJP MLAs come together and form the Government and two constraining the BJP MLAs to kow-tow to the fancy and whims of Delhi. In other words, Ibobi sought to convey the message that in the BJP, the people have a bunch of MLAs who have not been able to present the story of Manipur effectively as well as paint Delhi as an entity which has the least respect for the sentiments of the people. Whether the return of a popular Government would better the situation or not is anybody’s guess, but the longer the PR regime continues, the more benefits the Congress hopes to reap. And the Congress sees the present arrangement as the perfect opportunity to politically capitalise upon. This is politics and it is also significant that the Manipur Congress Committee thought it fit to flag off the launch of the campaign ‘Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod’ in Manipur from Heingang Assembly Constituency, the home turf of ex-Chief Minister N Biren. In choosing Heingang as the launch pad of the campaign in Manipur, the Congress delivered a powerful political statement and surely the State unit of the BJP must have taken note of this. All the more reason why the next Assembly elections, scheduled in the early part of 2027, promises to be interesting, very interesting. For reasons which must be obvious to everyone, the Congress appears to be riding high, at least much higher than what it was after the drubbing it received at the hands of the saffron party in the 2022 Assembly elections, managing to send only 5 MLAs to the House of 60. This was a huge climb down from the 28 MLAs it had after the 2017 Assembly polls, which itself was much lesser than the original 42 MLAs after the 2012 Assembly elections. A buoyant Congress and the coming 2027 Assembly election certainly looks set for an interesting countdown for the two most influential political parties in the country and in Manipur as well.
Ever since The Sangai Express hit the newsstand in September of 1999, it had always batted for a strong Opposition and fast forward to 2025 this stand has not changed. A strong Opposition, this is what Manipur needs and it is encouraging to note that with only 5 MLAs the Congress has been dispensing its duty as the main Opposition party with good effect. The resounding victories notched up by the Congress candidates in the two Lok Sabha seats in 2024 have certainly bolstered the strength of the party here and this certainly sounds good for Manipur as a whole. It is also important for the Congress to look back at itself since 2012 and recall the days when it was in power for 15 years on the trot. Back then, haughtiness, a sense of invincibility had enveloped the Congress and this certainly did not go down well with the people at all. It was only after the Supreme Court took up the alleged extra-judicial killing cases that the cops under the then Congress Government started seeing the people on the roads and streets of Imphal as human beings. It was only after the BJP swept the claims of the Congress aside and formed the Government with just 21 MLAs in 2017 that the Congress was administered its own dose of medicine of engineering defections. The nearly ten years it has been in the wilderness should be enough lessons and an invi- gorated Congress taking on the might of the BJP in 2027 will be interesting for Manipur and her people.
Ever since The Sangai Express hit the newsstand in September of 1999, it had always batted for a strong Opposition and fast forward to 2025 this stand has not changed. A strong Opposition, this is what Manipur needs and it is encouraging to note that with only 5 MLAs the Congress has been dispensing its duty as the main Opposition party with good effect. The resounding victories notched up by the Congress candidates in the two Lok Sabha seats in 2024 have certainly bolstered the strength of the party here and this certainly sounds good for Manipur as a whole. It is also important for the Congress to look back at itself since 2012 and recall the days when it was in power for 15 years on the trot. Back then, haughtiness, a sense of invincibility had enveloped the Congress and this certainly did not go down well with the people at all. It was only after the Supreme Court took up the alleged extra-judicial killing cases that the cops under the then Congress Government started seeing the people on the roads and streets of Imphal as human beings. It was only after the BJP swept the claims of the Congress aside and formed the Government with just 21 MLAs in 2017 that the Congress was administered its own dose of medicine of engineering defections. The nearly ten years it has been in the wilderness should be enough lessons and an invi- gorated Congress taking on the might of the BJP in 2027 will be interesting for Manipur and her people.