Ex-footballer Biren's deft skills take BJP past 32-figure mark

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh was an ace defender in his former avatar as a footballer, whose prowess helped his BSF team win the Durand Cup, defeating Mohun Bagan 1-0, in 1981.

Today the 61-year-old, the country’s first career sportsperson to become chief minister, has once again proved his ability to defend his turf by ensuring that his BJP-led government retains power, winning 32 seats, one more than the magic figure of 31 in the 60-member house.

It was a tough battle for the BJP, which went into the election as a divided house. Around ten of its leaders quit the party as it was besieged by rebellion over ticket distribution.

The government’s alliance partners, the National People’s Party (NPP) and the Naga People’s Front (NPF), also severed ties with the BJP ahead of the polls.

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The BJP’s performance has dashed opposition expectations that the defections would dent its vote share.

The former allies also did not undercut the BJP’s votes, as the voting percentage clearly indicates. The BJP polled 37.82 per cent votes, a marginal increase from the 36.3 per cent it got last time.

If anything, the NPP and the NPF helped split the opposition votes, reducing the Congress to political insignificance in the state it ruled seven times, including 15 years from 2002-2017.

The Congress was relegated to five seats with a vote share of 16.85 per cent, a huge drop from the 35.1 per cent it secured in 2017 to bag 28 seats. The NPP finished second with seven seats, three more than its tally of four last time.  It polled 17. 27 per cent votes. It polled 17.01 per cent votes. Another BJP ally at the Centre, the JD (U), emerged victorious in six constituencies. It accumulated 10.78 per cent votes. The NPF, too, improved its tally from four to five. Others, including independents, won five seats.

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Terming the BJP’s win as “victory of the people”, Singh hinted that he would form government with the support of the NPF, while the NPP would not be part of the new dispensation. “The NPP, I don’t think will be part of the government. But the NPF will not harm the coalition dharma,” he told newspersons after his win from the Heingang.

Apart from the division in anti-incumbency votes, the BJP also gained from its smart balancing of diverse interests in the multi-ethnic state. It managed to put up a relatively good show both in Naga and Kuki areas, promising to address their conflicting aspirations. The Kuki militant outfits openly extended their support to the BJP soon after Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah, in one his campaign rallies, promised to address their issues.

A separate Kuki territorial council under the Sixth Schedule (administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram to safeguard the rights of the tribal population in these states) is one of the primary demands of the Kuki outfits. The Nagas, however, see the demand as an infringement into their territorial rights.

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“The BJP managed to balance both the Kuki and Naga aspirations by promising to settle their diametrically opposite issues. This has brought them electoral dividend in the hill areas of the state. But it is now to be seen how they address these competing aspirations,” said Babloo Loitongbam, an Imphal-based human rights activist and political commentator.

Actually, the BJP could create a perception in its favour, which the Congress miserably failed to do, he said adding, “The increased tally of the NPP, NPF and others clearly shows that even those who were against the BJP did not entirely trust Congress to be the effective alternative. The Congress needs to do serious introspection and reinvent itself to recover from this loss.”

Another factor that went in favour of the BJP, Loitongbam said, is that during the tenure of its government there were less violence and political blockade, despite the fact that it did not address any of the issues that led to them.

“Not long after the BJP-led coalition government was installed in 2017, the blockade by Naga civil bodies also ended even though the decision of the previous Congress government to create some new districts over which the blockade was called, was never rescinded,” said Pradip Phanjoubam, editor of the Imphal Review of Arts and Politics.

It reaped the benefits of its balancing act. It won seven seats in the Naga- and Kuki-dominated areas, which elect 20 of the state’s 60 legislators. The Congress’s tallest Naga leader and former deputy chief minister Gaikhangam lost to BJP’s Dinganglung Gangmei in Nungba assembly seat.

In its manifesto the BJP also promised to protect the “territorial integrity” of the state, assuaging the concerns, if any, of the majority Meitei community about its promise to settle the Kuki and Naga problems.

Besides, promised freebies like free scooters to meritorious college girls, ₹25,000 incentives for education of economically weaker girls, free laptops to students, two free LPG cylinders to all beneficiaries of Ujjwala Scheme, among others, also found favour with the voters, said Sarojkumar Singh, a first-time voter from Imphal.

Also read: BJP weaves Hindutva, caste equations to deliver thumping win

The Congress, however, blamed “electoral malpractices” for its poor performance. “We have lost quite a few seats because of the manipulation by the BJP,” said Congress spokesperson Kh Debabrata.

Youth Collective Manipur also said incidents of booth capturing, damaging of EVMs, malfunction of EVM, proxy voting, intimidation and violence marred polling, held in two phases on February 28 and March 5.

Such allegations will not exactly sully the BJP victory, which, Singh said, was secured through his party’s mantra of “sabka sath, sabka bikash, sabka biswas, sabka prayas”.

Now that its second term is secured, the challenge for the government will be to fulfil the poll promises and to keep its house in order.

In his first term, Singh survived two attempts to dislodge him as chief minister. Chief ministerial aspirations of senior BJP leader and minister T Biswajit Singh is no secret in the power corridors of Manipur.

Singh, however, can draw some relief from the fact that his former deputy turned critic, Y Joykumar of the NPP, lost the election from Uripok.

Nevertheless, to again win a full term, Singh will have to display his defending skill. The game has just kicked-off for him.

(With inputs from David Mayum in Imphal)