The grass is greener on the other side; the English proverb seems true when it comes to the state of Manipur. People of the state assume whatever comes from outside the state – let it be fabrics, edibles, or even news reports to be better and more credible than what is here in the state of Manipur. Even songs from outside are taken to be better than the songs of Manipur.
When some national media like – India Today, Aaj Tak, or any other national newspaper wrote something about the state of Manipur, people counted those as reliable, and the real news published in the state are often considered as non-reliable. That was what is happening today.
A tweet to congratulate the Chief Minister of Manipur and Gao by the Prime Minister congratulating them for the stupendous victory of the BJP in both the states was reported as if the Chief Minister of both the states has been announced.
The fact is that, as of now, the name of the Chief Minister for the state of Manipur, where the BJP got absolute majority, is kept in suspense. Yesterday’s meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Board Committee has not discussed or even mentioned the issue of the Chief Minister as it has to be done as per the report of the observers appointed for each state. The two observers for Manipur are yet to arrive, and there is no logic in the news report as the appointment of the Chief Minister will be depended on the opinion given by the elected MLAs of the BJP.
Since the declaration of the Election on March 10, people have been expressing opinions on whether the former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh will continue in the same post or the BJP leadership is opting for a change of the post. Speculation about the replacement of N. Biren Singh by other BJP faces is spreading like wildfire. However, many still believe that caretaker Chief Minister N. Biren Singh will continue to stay in the post for another five years. There are reasons to believe that N. Biren Singh may be the choice of the BJP Central leadership, as the performance of the BJP in the recently concluded election is commendable. Winning in 33 seats out of the 60 is a laudable performance of the Party and the credit certainly goes to Chief Minister N. Biren Singh who led the campaign for the BJP.
There are also hard-core BJP legislatures who had worked tirelessly to make sure that BJP retain the absolute numbers. For example former Minister Th. Biswajit, who is also the National Executive Member of the BJP had also work not less than N. Biren Singh in making the BJP gets the absolute majority. Moreover, Th. Biswajit is the only legislature in 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly and who had strengthened the BJP party in the state along with the veteran politicians like former Minister Th. Chaoba, Ksh Babananda, Meinam Bhorot etc. .
Saying so, one cannot claim to be better for becoming the Chief Minister base on this. It is ultimately the elected MLAs of the BJP that will decide on who will be the legislature wing leader of the BJP in Manipur. And as of now no such opinions of the BJP MLAs have been taken.
One more thing needs to highlight here is the PM speech during the Parliamentary Board Meeting at which he is reported to have stated about family politics. As per source, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, ““Family politics won’t be allowed in the party. Dynastic politics in other parties have to be fought. So if anyone’s kin was denied a ticket, I take responsibility,”
This is a serious stament and so it is too early to celebrate or assume based on the report by some National Media.
