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Journalism of Courage
Veteran Manipur politician and sitting MLA from Wankghei, Y Erabot Singh, is tired of being spurned by national parties. Ahead of the 2017 state Assembly polls, the then Ibobi Singh-led Congress dispensation’s “high-handedness” had forced him to switch to the BJP, he says. Now, for the upcoming Assembly elections, the BJP has denied him a ticket, fielding instead Ibobi’s nephew and Congress turncoat, Okram Henry Singh, from his constituency. Erabot is now joining the National People’s Party (NPP).
“I have lost faith in the big national parties. The NPP is secular, represents the Northeast voice, and it will give BJP competition, that’s why I joined it,” Erabot, 82, says.
The Manipur polls may essentially be a contest between the ruling BJP and the principal Opposition Congress, but the regional party NPP — which leads a coalition government under Conrad Sangma in neighbouring Meghalaya — is emerging as a notable contender in the fray.
In 2017, the NPP had played the role of a “kingmaker” as the party helped the BJP form its first government in Manipur by joining its coalition. The party had then won 4 out of 9 seats it contested. Seeking to expand its base in Manipur, the NPP will contest 39 of the total 60 seats in the current elections. Presenting itself as an alternative to the national parties, the NPP has been projecting itself as an independent, pan-Northeast party (it has some presence in Arunachal Pradesh too), which has taken a stand on issues concerning the region, such as the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) or the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
“BJP or Congress — it’s an illusion that there are just two choices, like Pepsi or Coke. Why not try some freshly-squeezed orange juice instead? We are a fresh alternative, a party which is rooted in the region,” says Ratika Yumnam, the NPP’s youth wing chief, who earlier worked as an indigenous rights activist.
Yumnam might have glossed over the point that the NPP is an ally of the BJP government, led by N Biren Singh, but the fact remains that it has been an uneasy alliance.
In 2020, four NPP MLAs, who are also ministers, were about to pull the plug on the Biren government, with the crisis eventually averted by the BJP central leadership. Biren’s rivalry with the NPP’s Manipur face and Deputy CM, Y Joykumar Singh, has also been a sore point between the two sides, with the latter’s portfolios changed by the CM a couple of times in the last five years.
These rifts have now widened ahead of the polls, scheduled for February 28 and March 5, with the NPP even lodging a complaint with the Election Commission (EC), alleging that militant organisations were “openly campaigning” for the BJP.
Armed miscreants shot at NPP candidate L Sanjoy Singh’s father L Samjai Singh on February 18 night in Imphal East, who was admitted to a hospital. “This is an act of a coward targeting innocent people. This is not the first time that BJP supporters have targeted us”, charged Sonjoy Singh. Meghalaya CM and NPP chief Conrad Sangma also led a party delegation to lodge a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Manipur in this case and “on the series of incidents that took place around Manipur causing great concern for the safety of our candidates and the people”.
The ex-DGP-turned-politician, Joykumar, 68, who is a contesting from Imphal’s Uripok, does not mask his dislike for the CM. “Biren has claimed law and order has improved under him, but the truth is militants still demand money from contestants…imagine they even have the audacity to ask me,” he says.
Asked about the NPP-BJP alliance, he says, “What coalition? The coalition government did not even have a name, no common minimum programme, nothing. We were never consulted for any decisions and Biren behaved like a dictator,” adding, “The only good thing to have come out of the coalition was that it helped us grow as a party, to learn things. In these five years, we have become one of the main players in the election and both BJP and Congress have to take us seriously.”
Joykumar’s posters loom large in Uripok, where the NPP was formed in 1989, with N Ibomcha Singh as the president. The party contested its first election in 1990 in Manipur, even winning one seat, but remained in the shadows before it got a “rebirth” when former Meghalaya CM, late PA Sangma, formally overtook the party in 2013 with the ‘One Northeast, One Voice” agenda.
Under the leadership of Sangma’s son Conrad, the NPP has been trying to grow as a pan-Northeast party beyond Meghalaya, betting big on Manipur as another key state for its expansion, which would also help the party maintain its “national party” status.
In the midst of his Manipur poll campaign, Sangma, while speaking to The Indian Express over the phone, says his party can fill a “political vacuum”. “With the Congress weakening and anti-incumbency against the BJP, there is a vacuum emerging, and we can fill it,” he says, adding that the Northeast needed a “common political platform”, despite its diversity. “Whether it’s AFSPA, or CAA, we have always taken a stand,” he says.
In fact, the first point in the NPP’s manifesto is about repealing the AFSPA, which has drawn renewed opposition since the security ambush that killed 14 civilians in Nagaland in December last year.
On his party’s relationship with the BJP, Sangma is measured, saying “We have been a committed coalition partner, but the fact that the NPP will fight elections on its own is something the BJP knows.”
With the BJP ruling the Centre, the NPP cannot ignore the BJP, and the way defections play out after the polls in the Northeast, the BJP cannot ignore the NPP either.
“We are not worried because they have not reached that stature yet to get a majority on their own, but yes, the NPP is very ambitious and independent-minded, so we should deal with them cautiously,” says a BJP leader. The NPP also got a fillip after the BJP declared its candidates’ list as five of its leaders, including Erabot and another sitting MLA M Rameshwar (Kakching), on being denied tickets defected to the former.
In another sign of its emergence in Manipur politics, there is the buzz that the Congress has also been sending feelers to the party.
On his part, Sangma says he is confident his party “will win as many seats as possible”. He, however, adds, “At the end of the day, elections are elections, and we should not take anything for granted.”
(With inputs from Jimmy Leivon from Imphal)
