NPP lining up crucial meeting Looking beyond

With 7 MLAs in its kitty, the decision on whether it will continue to sup with the BJP in the Government or otherwise will not have much impact on the standing of the BJP led Government, which is comfortably placed in the House of 60 with just the Congress with 5 MLAs in the Opposition. However the September 27 meeting of the National People’s Party (NPP) scheduled to be held at Guwahati should be seen beyond the current term, which ends in 2027, and hence the meeting being qualified by the term, ‘crucial’. Whatever decision is taken on September 27 will be crucial not only for the NPP, but also for the saffron party and here it would do good to take into consideration the fact that the BJP is an important ally in the NPP led Government at Meghalaya. In Arunachal Pradesh it is a case of the NPP extending support to the BJP led Government, a model similar to the one in Manipur. Partners in Government in two neighbouring North Eastern States and this is where one should understand why the term ‘crucial’ has been tagged to the meeting scheduled at Guwahati on Septem-ber 27. There may not be any immediate outcome from the meeting on the BJP led Government at Imphal but Conrad Sangma is a far sighted political personality and one has to keep this in mind while studying the Guwahati meeting. Manipur will go to polls in 2027 and while this is still a good 2.5 years away, no political leader worth his or her salt would calculate the prospect of the political party within the parameters of just the remaining 2.5 years. The importance of the scheduled meeting of the NPP should also be understood in the context of the reality in Manipur and importantly in the backdrop of the drubbing the BJP received at the hands of the Congress in the Inner seat in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. It was not the BJP in the Outer seat, but the NPF which tasted a bitter defeat, but remember the BJP had gone along with the NPF in the Outer seat. A case of people keeping away as much as possible from any party which is deemed to be close to the BJP or a case of the Congress candidate able to connect with the people more effectively ? Whatever the answer may be, the outcome of the Lok Sabha election would not have missed the ears and eyes of Conrad Sangma and the NPP leaders in Manipur. This is the reason why the crucial Guwahati meeting needs to be looked and understood not only in the context of the present regime but also what may happen in the long run.
The scheduled meeting of the NPF should also be looked at and understood in the backdrop of what former Deputy Chief Minister and currently a key leader of the NPP, Y Joykumar had asserted last year in September. Back then the former IPS officer had asserted that there is no obligation for the NPP to back or support whatever decision the BJP led Government may take. In one line, the former Deputy Chief Minister had sought to keep the NPP clear of the fingers being increasingly pointed at the BJP led Government, in the backdrop of the seeming indifference of New Delhi to the over 16 months long ethnic conflict. Powerful statement, loaded with meaning, the September 2023 pronouncement of Y Joykumar was and this is what has added that extra dose of interests in the meeting scheduled at Guwahati. It should also not come as a surprise to many that while the sitting NPP MLAs want the tie up with the BJP to continue, at least till the expiry of the present term, many office bearers of the party and those who lost the last election by thin margins, want to snap ties right now. Not that it would affect the stability of the BJP led Government, but at least a clear message would have been sent out to the voters in their Constituencies and this may be taken as gearing up for the Assembly elections due in 2027. The reality, as things stand right now is, political parties are today constrained to study and take another relook at their tie up with the BJP and this is a point which Delhi cannot afford to overlook. As long as there is no end to the conflict, as long as Delhi continues to remain indifferent, one can expect more ‘interesting’ political developments as Manipur marches towards 2027.