The coming together of regional political parties comprising the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), the National Peoples’ Party (NPP) and individuals representing strong voices in their respective states namely Mohnlumo Kikon a former minister in Nagaland and also former spokesperson of the BJP who has since left the Party and Daniel Langthasa, former member of the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council has created ripples. However, this is not the first time that an attempt has been made to unite regional voices so that they can negotiate from a position of strength in the national capital where the seat of power resides. The scepticism from political observers is that both the Tipra Motha and the NPP are allies of the BJP in their respective states. Their views are that both these parties should first have the courage of conviction to walk out of the BJP alliance before attempting such an ambitious proposal.
There is also the question as to whether all the parties to this One North East (ONE) group have had extensive ground level consultations with their respective party workers which is a basic step in any democracy. After, all its the ground level supporters that add heft to any political party. The MLAs alone cannot decide on behalf of the voters when taking such a major decision. Now there are voices of dissent even within the NPP about Congress MLAs joining the Party and thereby depriving their own party members of tickets from several constituencies in the 2028 elections. This does not augur well for the NPP.
Also, the fact that other regional tribal political forces from Nagaland, Mizoram and even Assam such as the Bodo People’s Front led by Hagrama Mohilary and the United Peoples’ Party Liberal (UPPL) led by Pramod Boro are not with the new conglomerate makes it a tough call to bring about regional party unity. In many states regional parties have contested against one another. The fact that the UPPL and BPF in Bodoland are rival parties and in Meghalaya the Voice of Peoples Party (VPP) a strong contender in the next assembly election sees the NPP as a rival and has even given a call to all those supporting the present government to actually bring it down, would make any attempt at unity a desperate call.
It is not as if such calls for unity were not made in the past. The All Party Hill Leaders’ Conference (APHLC) which spearheaded the Hill State Movement in the 1960s had included the Karbi people too. It was expected that the Karbis would be part of Meghalaya but halfway down the movement they backed out and the Khasi-Jaintia and Garo people were left to pick up the baton of the statehood movement. Hence the aspiration of ONE to unite all regional political parties under a single banner and to work unitedly for a common goal – to tell Delhi that the North East which is treated like a distant periphery can also organise itself into a force to be reckoned with, while admirable may fall short of its goal. Political idealism cannot disregard realpolitik.
