Northeast India 2014: Waiting for Peace and Prosperity

The year 2014 passed away with a major change of perception among the people of northeast India. The residents of the trouble-torn region unanimously urged for peace and developments from the authority concerned. They have also extended whole hearted supports to the initiatives that might yield prosperity for the alienated region of India. The first half of the year witnessed the Lok Sabha polls that helped the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to make its position better in the region. The region, primarily a Congress citadel, helped eight BJP candidates to win in the general election. The saffron party, which has grabbed the power in New Delhi, could establish a satisfactory performance in Assam, where it won seven seats. The BJP also registered another win (Kiren Rijuju) in Arunachal West Parliamentary constituency. The 2009 general election witnessed only four BJP candidates’ success (all seats belonged to Assam) in the region, which has altogether 25 Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJP this time retained Gauhati (Bijoya Chakraborty), Mangaldoi (Ramen Deka) and Nagaon (Rajen Gohain) Lok Sabha seats in Assam. It also captured Lakhimpur (Sarbananda Sonowal), Dibrugarh (Rameswor Teli), Jorhat (Kamakhya Prasad Tasa) and Tezpur (R P Sarmah) Parliamentary seats. The Congress also won equal number of seats though the oldest party of India could pocket 13 MPs in 2009 Lok Sabha polls. The party won three seats (Gaurab Gogoi from Kaliabor, Sushmita Dev from Silchar and Biren Singh Engti from Diphu) in Assam this time, where as it bagged seven seats in 2009 polls). The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) also increased its tally to three (Badruddin Ajmal from Dhubri, Sirajuddin Ajmal from Barpeta and Radheshyam Biswas from Karimganj) this time from one in 2009 general election. The Kokrajhar seat was won by Naba (Hira) Sarania, a former leader of United Liberation Front of Assam. Two more seats, though not won by BJP candidates, delighted the saffron party leadership as Neiphiu Rio, the former Nagaland chief minister and leader of Naga People’s Front (NPF) won from Nagaland’s lone seat and he remained supportive to the BJP led government in New Delhi. Similarly, PA Sangma, former LS speaker and leader of National People’s Party (NPP) won from Tura constituency and he is too very close to the BJP. The other seat of Meghalaya went to the Congress candidate Vincent Pala (from Shillong). The Congress in Manipur too registered success as two of its sitting MPs namely Thokchom Meinya and Thangso Baite won. Moreover the Congress party retained Mizoram’s lone seat (C L Ruala). As usual, both the Parliamentary seats of Tripura were won by the CPM candidates namely Jitendra Chaudhury and Shankar Prasad Datta. At the same time, the lone Sikkim seat was won by the SDF candidate Prem Das Rai.

Nava Thakuria

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