This time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not talk about the Manipur imbroglio in his August 15 Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort. Well, nobody here is talking about why Modi did not mention Manipur in his speech. Maybe, people have grown tired of asking why every now and then. Whenever the general public raises questions on Narendra Modi’s ominous silence on the Manipur crisis, BJP leaders would harp on the usual swansong of Union Home Minister Amit Shah briefing the Prime Minister on a regular basis.
Then suddenly during the elections, they managed to unearth a speech given by the Prime Minister on August 15 from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort when he made a passing remark of the Manipur violence. All he said was, "The whole country stands with the people of Manipur. Peace is the only way to resolve all disputes. The Centre and the Manipur government are making every effort to ensure that peace returns to the state at the earliest." Violence started in May and it was only in August that the Prime Minister mentioned the Manipur violence.
After that, he maintained his silence all through until the election campaign. During an election visit to the neighbouring state of Assam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally spoke to Assam Tribune about the Manipur violence. But what he spoke about was more of a claim in which he talked about ‘timely intervention’ in Manipur by the Centre which paid dividends. Well, it became a running joke on social media. It was a fact that PM Narendra Modi never visited Manipur after the violence and the visits of Union Ministers to the state suddenly stopped. Previously every month, one or other Union Minister used to visit Manipur and BJP boasted about these visits and how the central leadership loves and cares for Manipur.
For more than 14 months, the state BJP leadership including the chief minister tried to flag the issue of Manipur imbroglio and somehow catch the attention of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was otherwise busy with his foreign tours and electioneering. Hordes of MLAs had gone to New Delhi several times, egged on by Meira Paibis and CSOs, only to come back dejected as the Prime Minister refused to meet them.
During the recent elections, the Prime Minister came to the neighbouring states for the campaign but somehow sidestepped the Manipur issue or visiting the state. The Prime Minister’s chief lieutenant and henchman Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the state twice. And the people had to be content with a statement from Amit Shah that he is routinely briefing the PM on Manipur affairs. During the BJP and allied MLAs visit New Delhi, Amit Shah would give the assurance that Manipur’s territorial integrity would remain intact and ignore the MLAs’ desire for affirmative action on the demands of the general population and a solution to the crisis.
All they wanted was a caring attitude commensurate with action from the BJP leadership so that they could face the people and proudly say that BJP means action. So, it resulted in the lack of an organised effort of campaigning for the party candidate and hence the defeat. We thought, the party leadership was not really concerned with the Manipur defeat as the likely increase was only two as against their target of 400 plus.
But, when Chief Minister N Biren Singh came out with a statement in the recent Manipur assembly session that read, ‘With what face shall I meet PM Modi when not a single BJP MP was elected from Manipur’, everything came out in the open. Even the claim of him meeting the Prime Minister during a BJP CMs conclave became suspect. But then, two top leaders Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah were supposed to be present at the ‘chance meeting’, the details of which are still hazy.
And we never thought that PM Narendra Modi would be that petty to blame CM Biren for the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Everyone knows that the most important factor of BJP’s defeat in Manipur was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s studied silence and absence. State leaders were simply helpless.
(The views expressed are personal)
