Despite brisk campaign, PM Modi gives strife-hit Manipur a miss

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, May 31

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who held a total of 206 public outreach programmes, including rallies and roadshows, since the announcement of the LS poll schedule on March 16, did not visit the strife-torn Manipur even once. Also, he did not hold any political rally in Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

The PM addressed rallies during campaigning for the first phase of elections in Nalbari (Assam) and Agartala (Tripura) on April 17. Both Assam and Tripura are BJP-ruled states. Modi, however, took part in a roadshow in Itanagar, Arunachal, on March 9, days before the announcement of the poll.

In the North-East, besides Assam and Tripura, the BJP has its government in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. Of the total 25 Lok Sabha seats in the eight Northeastern states, polling was held on April 19 for 15 seats — five in Assam, two each in Manipur, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh and one seat each in Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram and Tripura.

Apart from the four states of the Northeast where the BJP is in power, the party is a component of the ruling coalitions in Nagaland and Meghalaya. Barring Assam, the BJP and its allies did not have any seat-sharing arrangement in the 2019 elections, yet the NDA bagged 19 of the 25 seats. In the ongoing elections, they are contesting as alliance partners.