Why Congress Lost and BJP Won in Manipur

In the recently held Assembly election in Manipur, INC (Congress) got 28 seats -- three short of a simple majority, and BJP got 21 seats. NPP and NPF got 4 seats each. With crucial support from NPP and NPF and from smaller parties, BJP went on to form the government. From being nowhere five years back, BJP has come up to form the government in 2017. But is the rise of BJP due to the remarkable leadership of Modi or is it due to Congress poor leadership, or both? 

After the election result was announced, Naga People's Front (NPF) immediately announced that it was willing to support any non-Congress party to help form the government. The Congress government led by Ibobi Singh tried to polarise the people as much as he could just before the election. This was preceded by hostile policy towards the Nagas for the last fifteen years. The Nagas dominate in 11 Constituencies ( out of 60), and the only Congress candidate that won convincingly in the Naga dominated area was the Dy Chief Minister Gaikhangam. Given the hostility between the Congress led by Ibobi Singh and the Nagas, it was not surprising that NPF showed its willingness to support any non-Congress party in the state. Congress lost its opportunity to form the government by its repeated hostile policies towards the Nagas though it was just three seats short of simple majority. 

The other aspect, and more important than the rest, why Congress failed was because of corruption by Ibobi Singh. The corruption under Ibobi Singh has reached its height that the Devil's own younger brother might find it difficult to beat Ibobi. There has been no Chief Minister in the history of Manipur who as been as corrupt as Ibobi Singh. Even in 2012 he won only because there was no credible opposition, and this takes us to the third reason. 

Unlike 2012, in 2017 given that the BJP is ruling in New Delhi, people in the state realise that there is another party that can match Ibobi in term of money and muscle power. So people wanted to give chance to another party who might possibly be more honest in term of governance though BJP might be equally corrupt as Congress during election. Had Congress provided an efficient and a transparent government, BJP would not have won this many seats. And unless Congress leaders cease being so corrupt, BJP will displace Congress from one state after another. Time for Congress to wake up!