Phase-1 of the Manipur elections concluded on February 28. With the next phase scheduled on March 5, the parties have ramped up their rallies and roadshows to maximize voter outreach. On account of the same, Prime minister Narendra Modi also conducted a virtual rally. Many events were discussed at the rally, from development to the BJP’s vision for Manipur. Shots were fired at political opponents, particularly the Congress, whose leader Modi addressed as “Mr. 10 per cent”. This jibe was indicated toward someone who has had accusations of corruption levied against him.
Here is everything that was discussed in the virtual summit:
Accusations of Corruption
Okram Ibobi Singh of the Indian National Congress (INC) is the former three-time Chief Minister of Manipur. He has been mired in controversy for quite some time, with the most recent case coming when he was accused of corruption in the state. PM Modi was quick to point out this fact in his rally as he indicated corruption in the party by referring to the leader of the Congress being “Mr. 10 per cent” when the party was in power. While Modi did not directly mention his name, the jibe was indicated toward Singh as the same term for him back in the 2017 Assembly Elections.
The story behind this name is interesting. The BJP claims that Singh would pocket 10% of all money in all the government projects he approved in his term as the CM. The party also alleged that the name “Mr. 10 per cent” is appropriate because, under Singh’s leadership, only those projects were approved that could pay large sums of money as bribes. Therefore only about 10% of the projects could ever get approved. Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been investigating Singh over charges of money laundering and embezzlement of government funds, although he has denied any such allegations.
The BJP also blamed Congress for delaying projects put in place by previous governments and sabotaging the development of the state. Modi said this to say, “Congress did not develop Manipur. It kept Manipur away from peace, encouraged militancy and widened the hill-valley divide in the state. [Former PM] Atal Bihari Vajpayee had set up a dedicated department for the northeast, but when the UPA came to power in 2004, they made it inactive. With the weakening of Congress, their divide and rule policy has also weakened in Manipur”.
The Promises
Speaking about his party’s promises and achievements, the prime minister claimed that the state’s railway network was integrated into the national railway network under the BJP-led government. He talked about the future on a hopeful note mentioning how removing all Bandhs and Blockades under BJP rule has stopped hindering the state’s growth and allowed it to move towards its development goal.
“This is the decade of development and the state is rapidly moving forward towards that,” he said in his rally.
