Issues before the Parliamentary polls : Of MU crisis and FA
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 14 2018 -
The MU crisis has more or less blown over, with former Chief Secretary of the State and now Administrator of the varsity, Jarnail Singh firmly in place thanks to the intervention of the High Court of Manipur.
This however does not mean that the crisis which dragged on for days will be allowed to go out of the public consciousness with the BJP already firing the first salvo in accusing Congress president Rahul Gandhi of backing the course of action taken up by the Manipur University Teachers’ Association (MUTA) at the height of the anti-Pandey protest.
The charge of the BJP has obviously not amused MUTA with the teachers’ association shooting back and asserting that unlike the State unit BJP and its spokesperson, it does not work under the whims and fancy of any political party.
Wonder how the Congress will retaliate, but it is obvious that the MU crisis will feature prominently in the run up to the Parliamentary elections.
How the voters will be swayed remains to be seen, but here it can be presumed that the BJP rolled out the MU crisis in response to the charge of the Congress that the BJP is an anti-poor and anti-minorities party.
This observation may be understood better in the backdrop of the fact that the BJP came out with the charge after the Congress levelled the accusation that the BJP is anti-poor and anti-minorities.
A sort of a tit for tat and in the run up the election, anything goes it seems.
This is what will make the coming Parliamentary elections all that more interesting and this is where the people need to be wary of the tactics surely to be used by both to play to the gallery.
Other than the MU crisis, another issue which can be expected to be drummed up vociferously is the Framework Agreement signed between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India on August 3, 2015.
An issue which will figure in both the Inner and Outer seat but for entirely different reasons.
While in the Inner it will be about Manipur and her interests, in the Outer it will be about working out a solution to the Indo-Naga issue on the basis of the ‘unique history of the Nagas.’
The stand of the Congress is clear on this, more particularly the State unit of the Congress, and it will be interesting to see how the BJP will try to neutralise the approach of the Congress.
Interesting it will be but the more important question is whether the final pact, based on the Framework Agreement, will be inked before the Parliamentary elections or not.
Moreover how much will it impact on the voting behaviour of the people of neighbouring Nagaland ?
The BJP and the Congress at Delhi must have already taken note of this and both will take care to see that their stand does not rub any community the wrong way and it is this point which will be very interesting to watch.
Apart from these issues, how the two parties go about selling themselves to the voters will go some way in influencing their decision.
The Congress has some fine public speakers such as former Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam and it will be interesting to see how the BJP goes about neutralising the wit and charm of the former Deputy CM.
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