National BJP president Amit Shah is in town. He has already addressed two election meetings at Moirang and Kangpokpi and is set to address two more such meetings at Ukhrul and Singjamei on March 1. National vice president Rahul Gandhi was also in town and addressed an election meeting at Hapta Kangjeibung, right in the heart of Imphal city on February 28. The Sangai Express will come back on the visit and the address of Rahul at a latter commentary and will for now focus on the agenda which has been laid down by the BJP as well as briefly touch on the visit of Amit Shah. Two top leaders of the BJP, in the persons of Amit Shah and earlier Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visiting Manipur and clearly this should testify how seriously the BJP is taking the election and this is what has made the run up to the election all that more interesting. Something very different from what the State witnessed back in 2012 when the Congress virtually had no other political party to contend with. With the BJP sweeping the Lok Sabha election in 2014 the political climate has certainly changed and after conquering Assam is now intent on repeating the same in Manipur too. The case of Arunachal Pradesh is different. How things will unwind will be known only after the votes are counted but it is significant to note that the BJP has taken pains to spell out what it intends to do if voted to power.
Apart from taking pot shots at the Congress and going hammer and tongs against its failure in the last 15 years of being in power, the BJP has also come out with a brief vision for Manipur. From assuring piped drinking water to every household, something which the Congress has miserably failed to address to in the last 15 years, the BJP has also assured to investigate all fake encounter and corruption cases and accordingly punish the guilty. Apart from this, it has also promised to establish a Highway Protection Force to ensure a blockade free Manipur. This can go down well with the people, for this is something which the Congress Government has been talking about but failing to implement on the ground. Poll promises are promises basically to lure the voters and herein lies the question of whether the BJP sincerely believes that it can implement all the promises it has made in its Vision for Manipur. This is something which the people have to decide in the coming days. Surprisingly there has not been much of a debate on the feasibility of the assurances given by the BJP and it would be in the fitness of things for the Congress to pick up one of the ten assurances laid down by the BJP and engage it to a debate. Promises galore and here is hoping that the promises do not end up as hot air.
Source: The Sangai Express
