Imphal: The fine art of horse-trading which was once perfected by the Congress has come to haunt them again. In both Manipur and Goa, the Congress emerged as the single-largest party but simply lost out to the BJP in the numbers game. It hurts them even more in Manipur as the master strategist for the BJP is the man who had once delivered Meghalaya, Assam and a number of northeastern states to the Congress. But the Congress couldn't accommodate his ambition.
With 21 seats in the kitty, the BJP needed the support of almost all the non-Congress MLAs. Between Ram Madhav and Himanta Biswasarma, they managed just that. The Naga People's Front (NPF) had already said they would support a non-Congress government. Sangma's National People's Party (NPP) came in with all four MLAs, so did the lone MLAs from the LJP and the Trinamool Congress. And finally, when the BJP leadership drove in to meet the Governor, seen in Himanta’s car was the Congress MLA from Andro constituency, Shyamkumar Singh. He later said many more Congress MLAs were willing to cross over.
It was a heady evening for the BJP. The first-ever democratically elected BJP government had taken oath under Sarbananda Sonowal in Dispur, Assam. The Prime Minister and his entire Cabinet was witness to the gala swearing-in ceremony. There was a melee of reporters at the newly opened Taj Vivanta. The hotel had become the de facto headquarters of the BJP as the party top brass was staying there. That's when one of the backroom boys of Ram Madhav said he was flying off to Imphal the next morning. This reporter asked: “Already?” Pat came the reply: “There isn't much time.”
In 2012, while Ibobi swept Manipur, many attributed the defeat to the divided opposition. Thus, the Bharatiya Janata Party decided to build a platform for all the anti-Ibobi faces, leaders and legislators. The focus was to get leaders who were already popular, those who, over the last 15 years, had fallen out of favour with Ibobi Singh, but those who had individual popularity and charisma. Thus began the great 'house-warming' party. Leaders from the main opposition party, the Trinamool Congress, were the first to join. Then the dissident Congress leaders joined in. Most of the top leaders, including probable CM faces, have actually migrated to the party recently. Senior leaders of the BJP, be it N Biren, Y Erabot or O Chauba, had all been part of the Congress once.
The party saw itself in an unenviable position of being seen as anti-Meitei, a predominately caste Hindu community. Thus, the party decided to do a tight-rope walk. While the campaigning in Moreh, Ukhrul and other hill areas continued, in the valley, they only spoke about the issues people were fed up with. 'Fake-encounters', corruption, lack of drinking water and employment opportunities became the theme of the campaign.
An advertorial blitzkrieg across all mediums was launched. This almost bordered over enthusiasm, as all the eight top dailies had a full-page advertisement a day before the election, a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The Election Commission took this very seriously and an FIR was registered against the local leadership and the newspapers. The top leadership of the party was para-dropped in the state and attempts were made to reach out to each of the communities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a successful rally. BJP chief Amit Shah, too, held a number of rallies, while Prakash Javadekar, the state in-charge, camped in. There was the duo of Ram Madhav and Himanta Biswasarma, fresh from the Assam success, trying to replicate the strategy here.
The attempt was at giving a credible alternative to the Ibobi government while keeping the usual 'nationalistic' noises away. The Imphal valley, which has seen many insurgent groups demanding freedom, has a strong latent sense of Meitei nationalism. The BJP, which already found itself on the wrong side of the four-month-old blockade, feared a washout if it borrowed UP's blue print of a 'nationalist' campaign. Thus, it was all about presenting a credible option, a close re-run of the campaigns against the Congress-ruled states, which they have already captured and a campaign style that the party has almost perfected.
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