If the 2017 Manipur assembly elections were about the resilient Iron Lady, Irom Sharmila Chanu, breaking her 16 year-long fast against AFSPA and contesting election from the prestigious Thoubal constituency, the 2022 elections shall be about the lady super cop of Manipur police Thounaojam Brinda , leaving her ornate service career and contesting polls from the Yaiskul constituency of Imphal East district.
Though Sharmila’s defeat and the support she garnered as a politician came as a shock for everyone, the lady super cop this time is all about victory and confidence.
“Congress is a dying party in Manipur, tried and tested. Yaiskul is a premium constituency and I represent a royal family. The characteristic of this constituency is such that it decides for the next election in the mid-term and this time too they have done that much ahead. The present MLA Thokchom Satyabrata Singh of BJP has not done much except for providing paper-thin blacktopping to the road. My challenge would be from the candidate from the Nationalist Peoples Party (NPP) rather than the BJP representation,” said Thounaojam Brinda.
On Sunday last, the young super cop in a traditional red attire don the Janata Dal-United cap making her intention clear and dissipating all ambiguities on political allegiance.
Thounaojam Brinda is the daughter-in-law of RK Meghen aka Sanayaima, former chairman of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF). “My family background has been a major impediment for me. People have questioned my integrity, doubted me as an anti-national and in service, treated me as a major threat with confidential matters. I have been working for the protection of constitutional rights and shall continue to do so in any responsibility entrusted upon me,” she said.
The Manipur Public Service Commission cadre of the 2012 batch, Thounaojam Brinda is the first police officer from the narcotics division in the history of Manipur decorated with a gallantry award. Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh honored her with the police medal. Brinda later returned the gallantry award in protest after the special Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) court in Manipur acquitted former ADC chairman of Chandel Lukhosei Zou and six others in a high profile drug haul case in 2018.
Brinda, who was the then additional SP of the NAB police station, had led the operation leading to the arrest of Lukhosei Zou and seven others allegedly with a huge haul of drugs, cash on June 19, 2018. Brinda later resigned from her job as the additional SP in the Manipur police service in October last year.
“During my service tenure, I have served under both the Chief Ministers, Okram Ibobi Singh and N Biren. If you ask me then Ibobi is a more mature and astute politician. The present Chief Minister’s regime has been pathetic where he has led people nowhere. It supports drugs and drugs cartel,” said Brinda in an interview with News18 after joining Janata Dal-United.
BJP leader Thangjam Arunkumar, who resigned from the party after being denied a ticket, also joined the JD(U).
Meanwhile, JD(U) is in a positive swing after a large number of disgruntled BJP leaders opted for the BJP ally party at the center after denial of a birth. Almost 15 prominent BJP leaders of Manipur deserted BJP and joined the JD(U) and a few other regional parties. Initially, the JD(U) after measuring its strength in Manipur, had planned to field its candidates from around 20 seats, out of a total of 60 in the state assembly. However now, as many prominent leaders of BJP and the Congress, some of them sitting and former MLAs, have joined or planning to join, the JD(U) has decided to increase the number of seats. The party now plans to field its candidates from 75% to 80% of the total seats. The party till now has fielded 36 candidates and the final list shall be declared ahead of the dates for filing of nominations.
“I am not after portfolio but winning for me is essential. I being elected shall be a slap on the face for those who shy away from initiating developmental work, with the pretext of portfolios and paucity of funds. I need to win to prove that being in opposition one can perform and excel too. A strong opposition makes the democracy vibrant and oriented. I am not in the rat race of being in the ruling or opposition but a victory is what I deserve. My experience in the civil service shall empower me to perform as a good administrator in the public domain,” said the dynamic ex-police officer.
Manipur shall go to the polls in two phases, on February 27 and March 3.
“Decision here is not made on ideology but on who’s in Delhi. There’s virtually no difference between parties or candidates and all that matters is the Delhi factor. You will find very few women candidates in the fray and the reason the women lack money and muscle power. The women don’t have the goon or gundagiri background. I wish to change this with my success,” said a confident politician who is also a super cop.
Likes of Hangmila Shaiza, Wahengbam Leima Devi, Oinam Mema Devi and Okram Landhoni Devi besides AK Mirabai of Congress and Nemcha Kipgen of BJP, who are currently the MLAs of Patsoi and Kangpokpi, has been the women faces in Manipur politics so far. This time too, BJP has fielded three candidates in the list of 60 making the ratio 1:20.
What makes the list interesting is that Hangmila is the wife of former CM Yangmaso Shaiza, W Leima the wife of former Congress MP W Angou, O Mema the wife of former minister Oinam Bira and O Landhoni the wife of the present opposition leader O Ibobi Singh .
Only four women could become MLA’s in the State Assembly from 1972 to 2007. And none of the four women could see a woman colleague in the same term. These women members were either widows of powerful political leaders or heirs of particularly rich and powerful families. The first woman MLA was elected in 1990 followed by another one in the 1991 by-election and one each in the 2002 and 2007 state elections.
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