60 member Assembly in Manipur. The State leaders could not dream of winning the forthcoming Lok sabha elections.

Initially the national leaders of the party were a bit hesitant since the party has not taken root in this region. Eventually they decided to bring Modi to Imphal and Guwahati for early electioneering. Reacting to the report that Modi would be coming to Imphal, Gangemi made a sport of the political gamble. He said that very high mountains surround the North East region and the leaders will find it impossible to cross these mountains and make an impact. He was encouraged by the election results in Mizoram which gave a landslide victory to the ruling Congress. But then for a long time now it has been seen that the voters in this region understand national politics better. This had happened in other North East States. Gangmei perhaps thought that in view of the current political situation, the people in Manipur will not vote for the BJP candidates in the election for two Lok sabha seats.

By Manipur’s standard the assembled crowd at Langjing Achouba where Modi addressed the people was impressive. Many people from all walks of life went there. What was striking was that a considerable number of Muslim men and women were also present at the gathering. This is despite the boycott call given by some Muslim organisations and confusing signals given by the Muslim advocates. First the advocates said that they were boycotting the Modi visit, later they recanted. Further still there was another statement saying that no resolution was taken in this regard.

Talking to Eastern Panorama, some ranking BJP leaders said that those Muslims who had boycotted the Modi visit were mere political pawns who were paying their debt to the ruling Congress. For the first time in Manipur one Muslim, Adbul Salam, was nominated and elected for the lone Rajya Sabha seat. It was clear that Rahul Gandhi is trying to rope in Muslims and other minorities in the forthcoming elections since many sections of the educated and majority communities are against the dynastic rule of the Congress. However the BJP functionaries completely ignored the general strike and boycott call given by the insurgent groups. In a sense what they said about the Muslim organisations may be true in the sense that the call had not deterred the Muslims as a whole from attending the public meeting.

Gangmei was obviously taken aback by the huge turnout in the meeting. Reacting to it he told reporters that people scramble for watching a wild animal like a deer which stays into the village from the mountains. But they do not so in case of domesticated cattle. He also said that people usually extend a warm welcome to a guest. He also reminded the people that the Government had extended full cooperation to the BJP and Modi.

During his 45 minute speech Modi harped on corruption scams, non-performance and deterioration of law and order. The two national highways which are the only lifelines of Manipur are in a horrible condition. Though the national leaders say that Manipur is the power house of sports of the country precious nothing is done to promote and patronize the international sportspersons of Manipur who have brought laurels from home and abroad. He cited some cases of corruption and promised to probe these scams if the 

BJP forms the next Government at the centre. Manipur is a beautiful place and with some Government action it could attract tourists. He is not happy that there are over 700,000 educated unemployed youth in the State out of a population of hardly 2.7 million. The Government has done nothing to create employment opportunities for them.

The local BJO functionaries had however miserably failed to arrange an interpreter during the speech. As a result, a majority of the audience which is from rural areas could not understand Hindi or English, the languages Modi used during his speech. Since they did not know what Modi was talking about they left the venue in a huff. Had there been an arrangement to translate the speech simultaneously into Manipuri many of the people would have stayed back. The ubiquitous policemen also mocked the people with their uncoordinated and disjointed traffic and parking regulations forcing people including presspersons to walk long distances to the venue.

Muslim organisations said that Muslims and other minorities are not safe in Gujarat. They fear the worst if Modi becomes the next Prime Minister. However this is not the main
issue since in Manipur the party banner is of no consequence. It is the personality of the candidates which is responsible for victory in all elections. The BJP had failed to win a single seat in the 60 member House in the last two consecutive elections. Nothing much has changed now. There is not much by way of a prominent politician in the local branch of the BJP. Many sections are wondering whether the BJP politicians here shall get the much needed vote in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

People from all walks of life came out to attend the meeting defying the general strike imposed by one underground organisation and boycott call by the underground organisations and some Muslim organisations.

Gangmei says that hands up the Congress will win both the seats and hands down the opposition parties shall lose. He said that the political parties which had been rubbished by the people in the past cannot make inroads even if they field common candidates, The Congress has been delivering the goods to the people and as such it will continue to win the elections. He said that it is good that there are some political exercises among the opposition parties. But then he must have observed the way the waters have flowed. During the 2012 Assembly elections even opposition MLAs scrambled for Congress tickets. At least two Manipur People’s Party candidates got Congress tickets and won. But the politicians have seen the changed situation. Most of them are rushing towards the BJP office to become primary members of the party. It remains to be seen whether the Modi magic will help the local politicians in the forthcoming elections.

Kavita Laithangbam