Years from now, the 8th Assembly will certainly not be looked back with fond memories by MSCP president and Lok Sabha MP Th Chaoba and the reasons are not far to seek. Fortunes and misfortunes in politics can change overnight or in a matter of a few hours and nothing illustrates this better than what we are witnessing within the MSCP today. The MSCP which was formed on the somewhat populist stand of protecting the territorial integrity of Manipur is today a shadow of its former self when everything seemed to go right for the party.
After dethroning the then king of Manipur politics, Rishang Keishing, in the winter of 1997, the party under the Chief Ministership of W Nipamacha completed the term of the 6th Assembly and in the election to the 7th Assembly managed to emerge as the single largest party to form the United Front Government with active support from the FPM. Of course splits and defections were engineered with alacrity and the man believed to be behind the emergence of the MSCP was none other than Th Chaoba himself. Who can forget the day the MSCP organized a grand function at Mapal Kangjeibung to commemorate its second or third anniversary even as the people had started feeling the pinch of the financial strain.
The troika of Nipamacha, Chandramani and Chaoba was unmistakable at any function organized in connection with the MSCP. Moreover who can also forget the day when Th Chaoba came flying back triumphantly from New Delhi after being inducted into the Union Council of Minister as MoS for YAS. Then, we had acknowledged his political acumen for tying up with the NDA at the Center and even lauded his induction into the Union Council of Minister for it is not very often that an elected MP from Manipur finds a place in the Union Ministry. However soon things started going wrong with the Government headed by the MSCP.
For Chaoba too, things took a turn for the worse when he was shunted to the relatively low profile Food Processing Ministry and ultimately dropped from the Ministry. The last straw came when the United Front Government was ousted by the Radhabinod Koijam led People's Front Government. The developments thereafter were there for all to see and the famous spat between Nipamacha and Chaoba became public staple for some time. Contrary to what political analysts had to say, the MSCP did surprisingly well to send 7 representatives to the 8th Assembly. The politician that he is, Chaoba managed to patch up with old nemesis, Rishang Keishing and the MSCP became the second largest constituent unit of the SPF Government which had 20 MLAs in its kitty.
However the honeymoon with the Congress did not last long and the first sign of things to come was demonstrated when Chief Minister O Ibobi and his lobby strongly protested the move to merge the MSCP en-bloc with the Congress. That the MPCC (I) was not so much against the merger of the MSCP as much as inducting Chaoba into its fold became clear when five of its seven elected members were absorbed into the Congress with the blessings of the AICC president Sonia Gandhi on June 19 this year. 2002 has not been particularly fortunate for the top man of the MSCP. The ultimatum set by an underground organization to the MSCP members to either kick out Chaoba or dissociate themselves from the man from Utlou played no small part in reducing the MSCP to its present condition.
From 7 MLAs to none at all now. It should be interesting to see how Th Chaoba, a man known for his political acumen, pulls the party through. Yes, Th Chaoba may have neutralized Y Erabot and Vivek Raj Wangkhem by suspending them but that has not made the position of the MSCP any better. To understand the party, MSCP, we have to go back to the winter of 1997 when the oust Rishang Keishing campaign succeeded.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)
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