Mokokchung | May 14 : It is the fall of a titan. The defeat of Dr SC Jamir - one of the senior most and seasoned politicians in Nagaland - in the 26th Aonglenden Assembly Constituency by the youthful NPF candidate Toshipokba Longkumer by a whopping 1320 votes comes as a great moral booster for the ruling Naga Peoples’ Front and a great humiliation to the Opposition Congress party in the state.
This by-election was by no means a simple one. There has been much hype over the whole election, and the people’s imagination was revved up when Jamir declared his candidature on April 8, 2011 at Ungma village. It was a political comeback of a veteran Congress leader who ruled the state as a chief minister for five times, and was even the Governor of Goa and Maharashtra. Toshipokba Longkumer, as compared to Jamir in his political stature, is a new face who had lost to a Congress candidate Late Nungshizenba Longkumer in 2008 election.
The battle was seemingly uneven – Jamir the Goliath and Toshipokba a little David – be it in experience or in wealth. However, the tables were turned as the election campaign took heat. For Jamir, Congress leaders from the mainland, one even a Union Minister of State, campaigned for him at different places. Toshipokba Longkumer had the full DAN MLAs and the NPF party rallying behind him.
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio while campaigning for Longkumer at Mokokchung declared that this is a fight between the ‘Government versus Opposition’ and declared that the NPF would do its best to win the election. He kept his words, and today, the prestigious 26th Aonglenden Assembly Constituency has a regional party representative after nearly thirty years of being represented by a Congress MLA and being considered as a Congress bastion.
The winning of Toshipokba Longkumer has not come as a surprise for many citizens here. Rough personal assessment by citizens here has already concluded that Toshipokba would win. The general assessment was that NPF would be winning by a huge margin to the tune of 2000 votes. They were right in one way; NPF did win by a huge margin. However, some stubborn Jamir supporters, till last night, still harbored some hope of winning, taking into account some sympathy votes from the NPF voters in favour of Jamir. It cannot be ruled out whether Jamir had gained some sympathy votes, it has been quite a talk among Congress workers.
For now, it is sadness for one party and jubilation for another. Some NPF supporters moved around the town even bursting one or two fire-crackers in the middle of the town. Dr Jamir is said to be in Dimapur, resting after a heavy election campaign.
What next?
It is not known what the next plan of Jamir might be, but giving his words ‘there is no retirement in politics’, there are chances that he might contest again. Somehow Congress workers are not deterred. A Congress worker asserted that in the next general election, the DAN ministers and MLAs will be fighting in their own constituencies, and would not be able to give time for Aonglenden A/C.
But then, when it comes to the just concluded by-election, it is a fact that the NPF party deserves to win this election given the effort that they have put in from almost all the DAN Ministers and legislators. Some though allege open involvement by underground cadres in the election. Popular social networking site facebook is rave with members posting something about the election.
Interestingly, in Ao tradition there is a saying that there is a wind of change after every one ‘putu’ (one putu equals to thirty years, and this was the twenty-ninth year of Congress dominance in Aonglenden, and now the NPF has coincidently came to power in a Congress bastion). Call it superstition or coincidence, NPF party workers love that Ao folk saying; even NPF Mokokchung division president Aolepden once asserted that the Congress dominance will lose in Aonglenden, since ‘a putu is changing’. Young educated people do not believe in such saying, but for now, it is celebration for NPF and frustration for Congress. While NPF is asserting that the people’s mindset have changed towards the regional party, Congress workers still maintain their cool and say that the 2013 state assembly election would be different and Congress will definitely come back to power. Well, elections are hard to predict, but surely a giant has fallen for now, and time will bring whether he will rise again.
This by-election was by no means a simple one. There has been much hype over the whole election, and the people’s imagination was revved up when Jamir declared his candidature on April 8, 2011 at Ungma village. It was a political comeback of a veteran Congress leader who ruled the state as a chief minister for five times, and was even the Governor of Goa and Maharashtra. Toshipokba Longkumer, as compared to Jamir in his political stature, is a new face who had lost to a Congress candidate Late Nungshizenba Longkumer in 2008 election.
The battle was seemingly uneven – Jamir the Goliath and Toshipokba a little David – be it in experience or in wealth. However, the tables were turned as the election campaign took heat. For Jamir, Congress leaders from the mainland, one even a Union Minister of State, campaigned for him at different places. Toshipokba Longkumer had the full DAN MLAs and the NPF party rallying behind him.
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio while campaigning for Longkumer at Mokokchung declared that this is a fight between the ‘Government versus Opposition’ and declared that the NPF would do its best to win the election. He kept his words, and today, the prestigious 26th Aonglenden Assembly Constituency has a regional party representative after nearly thirty years of being represented by a Congress MLA and being considered as a Congress bastion.
The winning of Toshipokba Longkumer has not come as a surprise for many citizens here. Rough personal assessment by citizens here has already concluded that Toshipokba would win. The general assessment was that NPF would be winning by a huge margin to the tune of 2000 votes. They were right in one way; NPF did win by a huge margin. However, some stubborn Jamir supporters, till last night, still harbored some hope of winning, taking into account some sympathy votes from the NPF voters in favour of Jamir. It cannot be ruled out whether Jamir had gained some sympathy votes, it has been quite a talk among Congress workers.
For now, it is sadness for one party and jubilation for another. Some NPF supporters moved around the town even bursting one or two fire-crackers in the middle of the town. Dr Jamir is said to be in Dimapur, resting after a heavy election campaign.
What next?
It is not known what the next plan of Jamir might be, but giving his words ‘there is no retirement in politics’, there are chances that he might contest again. Somehow Congress workers are not deterred. A Congress worker asserted that in the next general election, the DAN ministers and MLAs will be fighting in their own constituencies, and would not be able to give time for Aonglenden A/C.
But then, when it comes to the just concluded by-election, it is a fact that the NPF party deserves to win this election given the effort that they have put in from almost all the DAN Ministers and legislators. Some though allege open involvement by underground cadres in the election. Popular social networking site facebook is rave with members posting something about the election.
Interestingly, in Ao tradition there is a saying that there is a wind of change after every one ‘putu’ (one putu equals to thirty years, and this was the twenty-ninth year of Congress dominance in Aonglenden, and now the NPF has coincidently came to power in a Congress bastion). Call it superstition or coincidence, NPF party workers love that Ao folk saying; even NPF Mokokchung division president Aolepden once asserted that the Congress dominance will lose in Aonglenden, since ‘a putu is changing’. Young educated people do not believe in such saying, but for now, it is celebration for NPF and frustration for Congress. While NPF is asserting that the people’s mindset have changed towards the regional party, Congress workers still maintain their cool and say that the 2013 state assembly election would be different and Congress will definitely come back to power. Well, elections are hard to predict, but surely a giant has fallen for now, and time will bring whether he will rise again.
