Members of the radical Meitei group, Arambai Tenggol, attacked the home of senior police officer Moirangthem Amit Singh this past week and even abducted him. Though he was later released after the security forces intervened, the incident has angered the state’s police personnel who laid down their arms in different districts of the valley. They were angry as they were not allowed to take action against the armed miscreants, who are supported by the Meitei people.
This incident shows how the law and order situation in the state has turned worse with the militant Meitei group becoming powerful in the valley. The militant group has to be reigned in immediately for normalcy to return in the state. The allegations made by the police forces should now at least wake up the Centre. The current situation demands bold actions from the Centre, which should immediately impose Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the seven districts of the valley.
Currently, the AFSPA is in force in the hill districts. Last October, the state government extended the AFSPA in the hill districts for another six months. There were demands from the Army too for the imposition of the Act in the districts of the valley too. According to the Army, the absence of AFSPA had hampered operations against the insurgent forces of the valley. Surprisingly, this view of the Army isn’t yet accepted and the reasons are unknown.
It has to be mentioned that there have been allegations that Chief Minister Biren Singh, and also BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Leishamba Sanajaoba, who belongs to the royal family of the erstwhile princely state of Manipur, are supporting Arambai Tenggol, which recently forced the 37 Meitei MLAs to take oath to fulfil its demands. Although Biren Singh wasn’t present there, his signature could be seen on the list of the signatories including Sanajaoba and Union minister RK Ranjan Singh.
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The National Democratic Alliance, the ruling coalition in the northeastern state of Assam, has declared the number of seats its constituents will contest. The BJP, the largest constituent, will contest on 11 seats while the Asom Gana Parishad will try its luck on two seats. The remaining seat — Kokrajhar — will be contested by the United Peoples Party Liberal.
For the last two consecutive Lok Sabha elections, the AGP has failed to win any seat in Assam. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it had contested alone and polled only 3.8% of the total votes. It allied with the BJP in 2019 and secured 8.3% votes. AGP was given 3 seats — Dhubri, Nagaon and Barpeta — in the last elections but this time it will fight only on Dhubri and Barpeta, with the BJP keeping Nagaon with itself.
For the regional party, which once dominated the state’s politics, it will be crucial election to at least win one seat to represent in the Lok Sabha. Failing to do so will only demoralise the cadres and supporters of the party. The battle doesn’t seem easy, though. The Muslim-dominated Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency, which has been a bastion of Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front, is going to be very difficult for the party to secure. Ajmal himself is the current MP from Dhubri. In 2019, AGP, supported by BJP, finished third in Dhubri, where the Congress was the runner-up.
That leaves AGP only with the Barpeta seat. After delimitation, there have been some changes in the demography, which gives some hope to the AGP. It is also this reason, according to reports, that sitting Congress MP Abdul Khaleque is not keen to contest from this seat this time. The Opposition alliance, United Opposition Forum, may allot Barpeta seat to the CPI(M), which has been strongly demanding this seat.
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The northeastern state of Meghalaya has two Lok Sabha seats — Tura and Shillong. The Trinamool Congress wants to contest from Tura, leaving Shillong for the Congress. Two weeks ago, TMC leader and former chief minister Mukul Sangma had said the party would declare its candidate for the Tura seat within 2-3 days but it is yet to announce any candidate. Clearly, this statement was to pressurise the Congress. Not only this, TMC’s central leadership also conveyed its message to the Congress high command demanding to contest the Tura seat.
However, the Congress, without yielding to TMC’s pressure, declared the candidates for the two seats. In the Shillong seat, as expected, it nominated sitting MP Vincent Pala, who is also the president of the party’s state unit. For Tura, it nominated Saleng Sangma, the sitting legislator from the Gambegre seat. This also puts an end to the speculations of any seat-sharing between Congress and TMC in the state, as confirmed by Matthew Antony, Congress media coordinator in charge of Northeast. He said the state unit’s decision had the total approval of the party high command.
The Meghalaya Congress has not keen on a seat-sharing arrangement with the TMC. This has to do with the rivalry existing between Vincent Pala and Mukul Sangma. Mukul left Congress after the party made Vincent the president of the state unit. Besides this, another reason is that the Congress, which has weakened considerably after 12 MLAs led by Mukul joined the TMC, has been banking on a long-term strategy to strengthen the party. In the Shillong seat, the party believes, the alliance with TMC, which recently declared not to contest the seat due to organisational weakness, is unlikely to add any surplus vote. On the other hand, if it cedes Tura to TMC, it will lose another opportunity to strengthen itself there. Apart from this, the state unit also probably got the support of the central high command as a result of TMC refusing to cede at least 5-6 seats for the party in West Bengal.
The author is a political commentator.
[Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.]
Manipur Valley Districts Need AFSPA To Rein In Arambai Tenggol
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0
02.03.2024
Members of the radical Meitei group, Arambai Tenggol, attacked the home of senior police officer Moirangthem Amit Singh this past week and even abducted him. Though he was later released after the security forces intervened, the incident has angered the state’s police personnel who laid down their arms in different districts of the valley. They were angry as they were not allowed to take action against the armed miscreants, who are supported by the Meitei people.
This incident shows how the law and order situation in the state has turned worse with the militant Meitei group becoming powerful in the valley. The militant group has to be reigned in immediately for normalcy to return in the state. The allegations made by the police forces should now at least wake up the Centre. The current situation demands bold actions from the Centre, which should immediately impose Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the seven districts of the valley.
Currently, the AFSPA is in force in the hill districts. Last October, the state government extended the AFSPA in the hill districts for another six months. There were demands from the Army too for the imposition of the Act in the districts of the valley too. According to the Army, the absence of AFSPA had hampered operations against the insurgent forces of the valley. Surprisingly, this view of the Army isn’t yet accepted and the reasons are unknown.
It has to be mentioned that there have been allegations that Chief Minister Biren Singh, and also BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Leishamba Sanajaoba, who........
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