In Manipur, political party allegiance, political ideology and morality play second fiddle to power, money and personal interests. It won’t be a daunting task for any party in power at the Centre to install its government in Manipur as most of the elected representatives behave like political chameleons in the state.
TFM Opinion
Results of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly election have sprung no surprise. Had there been no politicking in selection of BJP candidates and tickets been given purely on criteria of winnability, the Bharatiya Janata Party could have registered a record win crossing 40-mark as most of candidates, who have won on NPP, JD(U) and Independent, had vied for the BJP tickets before the election to join the fray.
PM Shri @narendramodi BJP karyakartas on party's landslide victory in Assembly Elections 2022. pic.twitter.com/XR03ty9OYF
— BJP (@BJP4India) March 10, 2022
Besides, the BJP will remain a formidable force in Manipur as long as the saffron party is in power at the Centre. The small state has over the years inherited a legacy of financial dependency on the benevolent government of India. Hence, politics is all about dancing to the tune of the party in power at the Centre. In Manipur, political party allegiance, political ideology and morality play second fiddle to power, money and personal interests. It will not be a daunting task for any party in power at the Centre to install its government in Manipur as most of the elected representatives behave like political chameleons in the state.
Manipur LA Speaker Y.Khemchand of BJP rejoiced with traditional Manipuri dance "Thabal Chongba" on election victory.#Manipur pic.twitter.com/gEAXYGEiMU
— Reagan Moirangthem ꯔꯤꯒꯥꯟ ꯃꯣꯏꯔꯥꯡꯊꯦꯝ 🇮🇳 (@reagan_moirangt) March 10, 2022
#WATCH | Manipur CM N Biren Singh dances with other party leaders at the party office in Imphal, as they celebrate BJP's victory in #ManipurElections2022 pic.twitter.com/D1ogcOg4Ia
— ANI (@ANI) March 10, 2022
The political fickleness of the elected representatives and their preference for the party in power at the centre stems from the fact that no government can survive a full five-year term without the blessings of the party at the centre. So, the BJP, which is leading the NDA government at the Centre, remains first preference for the majority of the prospective candidates for the just concluded 12th Manipur legislative assembly elections. In the run up to the elections, every constituency saw two-three candidates vying for BJP tickets.
If the BJP could keep its flock intact, the party would have easily swept Manipur and decimated all other parties. However, it is not a cakewalk for the most-sought-after party to please all aspirations. The party leaders did pull out all stops to manoeuvre the situation to their favour. They resorted to taking pledge of all the aspirants to support whoever got the party ticket. All their attempts to prevent switching of allegiance before the polls fell flat as violent outbursts were witnessed across the state soon after announcement of the party’s candidate list. Angry supporters of candidates who were denied party tickets ransacked mandal offices, pulled down party flags and banners and set them ablaze.
So, there is no surprise when the BJP crossed the magic number in the recently concluded election. Manipur is a small state which survives on Centre’s grand-in-aid. The state economy is dependent on the salaried class engaged by the State government. If the state government cannot disburse the salary of its around 75 thousand employees for a few months, the normal flow of transactions in the state economy will be totally jeopardised.
The state government, which cannot generate enough revenue to run its affairs, had always rushed to the Centre with begging bowls to release salaries of its employees. Here lies the importance of mercy of a party in power at the Centre.
There will be no anti-incumbency factor against the BJP in the state as long as it is in power at the centre. But it is not guaranteed that representatives elected on the BJP ticket will not defect to another party if it loses power at the Centre.