Rahul Gandhi Had A Profound Impact In The North-East: Gaurav Gogoi

The Northeast part of India seems to be changing rapidly politically if the trends noted in these Lok Sabha elections are any indication. The Congress party has been able to make a significant mark in some states, and paved its way in others. It has won both the Lok Sabha seats in violence hit Manipur.

The Citizen spoke to Congress’ Gaurav Gogoi, the winning candidate from Assam’s Jorhat constituency who took a hard stand against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over their negligence in Manipur.

“It was one of the toughest moments in my professional career and I am thankful to the people of my constituency for giving me the mandate and it’s their victory. I hope I can live up to their expectation,” Gogoi told The Citizen after winning the elections.

On asking what would be his major focus area, Gogoi said he would give emphasis to healthcare, higher education and “preventing the damage caused by flood and erosion”.

“The government has totally neglected the impact of environmental disasters. I think the government has totally neglected issues related to the environment and ecology.

“The ministry of environment and forest is more busy giving sanctions to industrial projects than having a clear vision to preserve the diversity of Indian ecology and protecting India’s wildlife. I hope that this will change in the future [with an I.N.D.I.A bloc government],” Gogoi said.

On Congress’ victory in Assam and other states like Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya Gogoi said that the elections have shown how the party leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra had a profound impact on the people.

“The result of these elections has shown that the mission of Rahul Gandhi to unite India through the yatra and his call for harmony through his slogan ‘nafrat ki bazaar main mohabbat ki dukaan kholni hai’ has shown this is the only way – that we spread life and love and continue to persevere our mission to preserve democracy, the constitution and spread vanity.

“These results are important and these are important milestones and there are many more to come,” he added.

Gogoi said that Bharat Jodo Yatra played an essential role, because it spent a considerable amount of time in the Northeast. “Rahul Gandhi himself took a considerable amount of time to meet and understand the aspirations of the people.

“He has been to Manipur himself and has witnessed the tragedy that unfolded a year ago. The Congress party has always been committed to preserving the peace and diversity of the Northeast. It is unfortunate that the BJP Hindutva politics is alienating the traditional communities of the Northeast,” the 41-year-old Gogoi added.

He accused the BJP of spreading hate, attacking and blaming the Muslims for his loss in certain states.

“Recently the Chief Minister of Assam is blaming one particular religion for the party’s results in Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur. It just goes to show they just want to divide the Northeast based on religion and ethnicity,” Gogoi said.

Meanwhile, with conflict continuing in many states of Northeast India, especially Manipur, which witnessed fresh violence recently in Jiribam District, the ruling BJP is being accused of not handling the situation well.

Meanwhile, Gogoi has taken a strong stand against the BJP, a day after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement on Manipur, where he averred how the violent situation in the state needs to be looked at.

Taking to X (Formerly Twitter), Gogoi said, “I do not expect Prime Minister Modi to pay any attention to the words of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat. Prime Minister Modi will avoid Manipur, misuse law enforcement agencies and try to bend the Indian constitution. Thankfully the people have chosen the I.N.D.I.A alliance to speak up on its behalf and defend the Indian Parliament and the Constitution.”

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday criticised the current regime for not handling the situation well in Manipur. In a speech peppered with criticism about the way the campaign was conducted on both sides of the political divide, Bhagwat said, “Manipur is waiting for peace for the last one year. There was peace in Manipur 10 years ago. It felt like gun culture had finished there.

“But the state has suddenly seen violence. The situation in Manipur will have to be considered with priority. There is a need to get over election rhetoric and focus on problems facing the nation.”

Other Opposition leaders also hit back at the RSS chief's remarks. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday reacted to Bhagwat's remark on Manipur, saying the latter's statement has come ‘late’.

“PM has always been silent, not just on Manipur, but also on farmers, wrestlers who were molested... He (Mohan Bhagwat) spoke but it's late,” the former Bihar deputy chief minister said.

Speaking at an RSS programme in Nagpur, Bhagwat, meanwhile added, “The unrest either got triggered or was triggered, but Manipur is burning and people are facing its extreme heat.”

Bhagwat advised the new government and the Opposition, indicating that the approach to both election and governance should be tweaked.

“Election is a process of building consensus. Parliament has two sides so that both aspects of any question can be considered... Every issue has two sides. If one side is addressed by one party, the Opposition party should address the other dimension, so that we reach the right decision,” Bhagwat said.

The RSS chief’s speech indicated the importance of the Opposition. The Lok Sabha election saw Congress bouncing back, and winning 99 seats compared to 52 in 2019.

The mandate, while cutting down then BJP numbers to 240, way below the majority mark of 272, has given the Opposition 234 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Bhagwat said the whys and wherefores of the mandate, which comes once every five years, does not concern the Sangh.

“The Sangh works for refining Public Opinion in every election, it did it this time also but does not get entangled in the analysis of the outcome… Why do people get elected? To go to parliament, evolve a consensus on various issues. Our tradition is of evolving consensus… This is a competition not war,” he said.

He also pointed out towards the negativity of election this time and said, “The way things have happened, the way both the sides have attacked below the belt, the way completely ignored the impact of campaign strategies that would lead to divisions, increasing social and mental fault-lines, and unnecessarily drew the organisations like RSS in the same. Using technology, falsehood was spread, absolute falsehood.”

In Manipur meanwhile, over 230 people from Mongbung, Lamlai Khunou, and surrounding villages fled their homes and are currently taking refuge in two relief camps at the Jiribam district headquarters. Many have been displaced and thousands have also travelled to neighbouring Assam to flee the violence.

To bring the situation under control, a large contingent of state police was flown to the district using an Indian Air Force helicopter early Saturday.

The latest round of violence erupted in the district Thursday after a 59-year-old man, identified as Soibam Saratkumar Singh, was found dead, with his body bearing signs of injuries made by a sharp object. The mob rampage that followed prompted the Jiribam administration to impose prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144.

Jiribam lies on the westernmost side of Manipur, about 220 kilometres from the state’s capital Imphal. It borders Assam’s Cachar district. As violence escalated, Manipur’s newly-elected Congress MP, Bimol Akoijam, appealed for restraint.

“To restore peace, we should be careful of the forces at play and not succumb to any plots to sustain the violence,” Akoijam, the MP-elect from the Inner Manipur seat, said.

Akoijam said he had spoken to Jiribam district administration to ensure both lives and property are safeguarded. He also wondered if an “ethnic exclusivist agenda” was at play.

The newly-elected MP also questioned why Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had not yet sacked Director General of Police Rajiv Singh and Security Adviser Kuldiep Singh and taken charge of the Unified Headquarters.

According to ‘The Hindu’, three letters were sent to the DGP and the Security Adviser in January this year.

Calling the letters written months ago “intriguing”, Akoijam, Inner Manipur MP-elect, said, “The DGP and the Security Adviser have been appointed by the State Government… The Chief Minister should have sacked these top security officials appointed by him a long time back and taken over the charge of the chairmanship of the Unified Headquarters. Why didn't he do that?”

Biren Singh has been criticised for being biased and letting one community take over even as the violence did not stop.

Meanwhile, Akoijam questioned the CM further and said, “The Chief Minister is not only the head of the government but also the Home Minister of the State. Presumably, the information about the movement of armed Kuki militants in the Jiri areas must have come from the intelligence agencies, including the one from the State police. So, the question is, whose failure is this? It is not just related to Jiribam but all throughout the crisis.”

The Congress MP continued, “Or is it that he appointed these officials because of some sort of a diktat from New Delhi? If that is the case, then the question is why he did not resist as the Chief Minister and Home Minister of the State.

“After all, the State government and Chief Minister are constitutional authorities, and law and order is a State subject. Why should one allow Delhi to dictate terms and erode federal structure, the autonomy of the State? We need clear answers to these questions.”

A resident of Jiribam, whose house was in the town where the violence took place, told The Citizen that the situation is tense and they do not see it getting better any time soon.

On May 14, the dead body of a Kuki resident was found floating. Photos and videos of the young man’s eyes being gouged were doing rounds. “We did nothing that time. However, violence started after another dead body from their community was found. Why not let the police do its work and then see what happened. Why resort to violence,” the resident said.

The Kuki Inpi South West Sadar Hills, the Kuki Students' Organisation South West Sadar Hills, and the Kuki Women Union Moltam Region have jointly called for a 24-hour total shutdown from midnight on June 10.

“In our bid to maintain peace and tranquillity along National Highway-37 (Imphal-Jiribam Road) and to avoid any violent activities, CSOs of the areas had repeatedly appealed to the state government, including police and district administration, not to deploy any Meitei drivers and police personnel along NH-37,” stated the Kuki bodies.