Mission 2014 Modi versus Gandhi or.... : What it portends for Mr Ibobi
- Sangai Express Editorial :: August 21, 2013 -

Mission 2014. The BJP versus the Congress or Mr Narendra Modi versus Mr Rahul Gandhi.

The BJP or rather Mr Narendra Modi has already started blowing the election trumpet, with the slogan "272 seats" in the next Lok Sabha election and while this may be music or just a cacophony of noises being drummed up by the BJP, what is clear is that the party seems to have temporarily exorcised the ghost of dissent or disagreement over the decision of projecting Mr Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election.

The Congress on the other hand has not yet projected its Prime Ministerial candidate, but everything indicates that it could be a face off between Mr Modi and Mr Gandhi.

So is it going to be a clash of personalities or will it be the party which will ultimately prove to be the decider ?

Only time will tell, but in projecting Mr Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate, the BJP has already sent out the message that he is the man who can steer the party to the centre stage.

A clear and loud signal that the party has moved on from the era of Atal Behari Vajpayee and more importantly from the long shadow of LK Advani.

How well this strategy will go down with the electorate still lies in the realm of speculations, but one thing is certain. Mr Modi is a personality who cannot be ignored.

One either likes his style of functioning or does not like it at all. The strong stand adopted by Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) strongman, Nitish Kumar more than indicates this.

In terms of governance and ability, Mr Modi will definitely score high, but given the plural character of the country, this may not just be enough.

There is also something called the acceptability factor.

A factor which came into prominence in the case of Atal Behari Vajpayee, the first non Congress man to complete a full term in office as the Prime Minister of the country. This is extremely important for the days of a single party Government is passe'.

Coalition Government is the order of the day and there is no reason to expect otherwise when the largest democracy in the world goes to poll next year.

Another important question is whether Mr Modi has or can have a pan India appeal, an attribute which is synonymous with the name Gandhi.

Congress versus the BJP or Modi versus Gandhi. This much is true.

Alliances, whether pre-poll or post poll will centre around these two political parties.

This however should not be seen or understood as dismissing the role of the regional political parties which can have a decisive say in Government formation.

How the major regional political parties, such as the SP, BSP, Trinamool Congress, JD (U), Telugu Desam, AIADMK, DMK, Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and of course the Left parties align with the two major political parties will go a long way in characterising the Government after the Lok Sabha elections scheduled sometime in 2014.

A case of each seat or each MP counting in the ultimate analysis. This is where the importance of smaller States like Manipur and the others in the North East, barring Assam, which get to send only one or two MPs to the Lok Sabha arises.

One more reason to believe that another test awaits Mr O Ibobi and his men in the coming days.

Into his third term in office as the Chief Minister of the State, Mr O Ibobi has already scripted history and if the Congress can repeat its success story this time too, that is capture the two seats, Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency and Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency, it would be more than a feather in the cap of the Chief Minister.

It would certainly go a long way in strengthening his position within the party and go one or two notches higher up in the eyes of the AICC leadership, particularly Sonia Gandhi.

To the Congress and the BJP Mission 2014 may be about Mr Modi and Mr Gandhi but to Ibobi here, it could well be about his standing within the oldest political party in the country.