Former state minister Billal Miah of Boxanagar left the Congress and joined the BJP along with more than 7,000 of his supporters on Thursday. This was a significant boost to the saffron party ahead of the bypolls in the Muslim-dominated Boxanagar seat. Miah was upset with the state party leadership for not contesting this seat. He himself wanted to fight in the bypolls on the party’s ticket.


Since Ashish Saha became the state Congress president this year, factionalism within the party has increased. Birajit Sinha, who was replaced by Saha for the state party president's post, has been openly airing views against Saha, who belongs to the camp of former state party president Sudip Roy Barman


Barman, for a short period, was in BJP and also held the post of the Health Minister in the Cabinet led by Biplab Deb. The present Congress president was also in the BJP and was elected as an MLA on the party's ticket from the Town Bardowali seat in the 2018 state polls.


It is a fact that the Sudip and Birajit camps have a long history of rivalry and this has been laid bare ahead of the bypolls for Dhanpur and Boxanagar on September 5. In a letter to the central party leadership, Birajit urged the high command to contest the Boxanagar seat and to support the Tipra Motha in Dhanpur. 


Interestingly, the Boxanagar seat was won by CPM this year, while BJP won the Dhanpur seat, where among the Opposition parties, the Left has a strong base. Tipra Motha, which is losing momentum in the state, fearing poor performance, didn't put any candidate in the Dhanpur seat, despite getting 19% of the votes on the seat earlier this year. It is not that Birajit isn’t aware of these realities. But in recent times, he has been trying to maintain distance from its electoral ally, the CPM.


Importantly, the Congress won three seats along with a vote share of 8% this year because it allied with the CPM. Let’s not forget that the party failed to even open its account in the 2018 state polls where Birajit himself lost in his bastion Kailashahar to CPM’s Moboshar Ali. Birajit himself won this seat this year as CPM, as a result of the alliance’s compulsion, offered this seat to Congress, denying a ticket to its sitting MLA.


The problem with the state Congress leadership, divided into factions, is that it is cut off from the ground reality. The party is currently reduced to a few pockets in the state. But the state leaders refuse to accept this bitter reality. They persist in clinging to the mistaken notion that the embattled Congress maintains its status as a "potent force" within the state. Their primary focus remains on exerting control over the entire party, achieved through appointments of their faction's leaders, all the while steering the party according to their impractical aspirations.


Arunachal Ex-CM Launches New Party


Former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Gegong Apang has floated a new political party named Arunachal Democratic Party. He has claimed that his party would focus on the issue of the welfare of the state, root out corruption, and create opportunities for youth. He said that his party plans to contest all the 60 assembly constituencies in the upcoming elections. This northeastern state will see state elections next year, along with the Lok Sabha elections.


This is not the first time that Apang has launched a new party. The former Chief Minister, after deserting the Congress in 1996, had formed the Arunachal Congress, which allied with the BJP. In the later years, he joined the BJP, returned to Congress, and again went back to the BJP. 


In 2019, he joined the Karnataka-based Janata Dal (Secular) of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and was appointed the northeast convenor of the party. Under his leadership, JD(S), also for the first time, contested both the state and Lok Sabha elections that year. But the JD(S) failed to open its account with Gegong Apang himself losing from the Tuting-Yingkiong assembly constituency to BJP’s Alo Libang. The party was able to fetch only 2.16% votes contesting 12 seats while it fetched 4.9% votes contesting the two Lok Sabha seats of the state.


Apang is right when he stresses rooting out corruption from the state. Corruption has been a pressing issue in the state. The state saw protests after the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission paper-leak scandal came to light last year. Currently, the scandal is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. However, given the past record of Apang’s party-hopping, it will be very difficult for him and his ADP to get support from the voters with elections only months away. He now faces the challenge of building the organisation within a short time.


Mistrust Between Nagas And Kukis In Manipur


The United Naga Council, an apex body of the Nagas in Manipur, has said that it is not in support of the separate administration demanded by the Kuki-Zomis of the state. Last week, 10 Kuki-Zomi MLAs of the northeastern state wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding separate administration for five Kuki-Zomi-majority districts — Churachandpur, Pherzawl, Kangpokpi, Chandel, and Tengnoupal.


This didn’t go down well with the UNC, particularly after Kuki-Zomis openly claimed Chandel and Tengnoupal. The Nagas considered these districts as their ancestral lands. That’s the reason the apex body of the Nagas criticised even the Kuki-Zomis and accused the latter of distorting history. The body said that the Kukis were planted by the British in the Naga hills between 1830 and 1840.


Since the ethnic riots broke out between Meiteis and Kuki-Zomis in the state, Nagas have been neutral in this conflict. However, this statement of UNC brings Nagas to the centre of the conflict. Such a statement coming from the Naga bodies in response to Kuki-Zomis demanding a separate administration, which includes areas considered ancestral by the Nagas, is not unexpected. 


The failure of the state government and the Centre to reduce the deep mistrust between Meitieis and Kuki-Zomis is contributing to the demand for a separate administration by the latter. With Nagas, too, getting involved in the ethnic conflict, there are chances of enmity growing between them and the Kuki-Zomis. Before this escalates into another unfortunate and horrific riot, the state government and the Centre must take necessary action to reduce this mistrust — and also effectively execute steps to reduce the deep rift between Meiteis and Kuki-Zomis to restore peace in the northeastern state.


The author is a political commentator. 


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