It was a chilly winter morning in October 2024, and the Manipur University Central Library building was packed with students and scholars as I gathered information on how to approach Meinam Bhorot Singh, one of the founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Manipur, for an interview.
I came out of the building and stood on the library lawn to make a phone call to him, which he answered politely. At first, I greeted him, introduced myself as a researcher working on the politics of the BJP in Manipur, and requested an interview, which he accepted with great interest and humility. Although he reminded me that he was old and had hearing issues, he assured me that he would do his best to share his knowledge with me. We agreed to set a date for the same month, on October 28, 2024, in the morning, around 9:30 AM, at his residence in Thangmeiband, Imphal West district.
With great happiness and a strong sense of productivity in my research, I headed to his home for the interview. When I arrived, an older adult, presumably his wife, asked me to take a chair in his small courtyard, surrounded by flowering plants and mango trees. In the middle of the courtyard stood the compact structure of Vrindavan, featuring the Tulsi plant, a traditional Hindu symbol of spiritualism. I waited for a few minutes; he came out wearing warm winter clothes and a pair of spectacles, carrying a walking stick. I gave him a big smile, performed a charan sparsh (touching the elders’ feet in Vedic traditions by bowing) as a sign of respect, and handed him the apples I had bought from Singjamei Bazar, Imphal West district.
We began with a friendly conversation, sitting side by side at a table in the middle on a pleasant winter morning, with sunrays basking towards us. I was served a cup of thick milk tea with some biscuits. I reintroduced myself as a researcher working on the politics of the BJP in Manipur. Within a few minutes of our exchange, I realised he was an excellent listener, a sharp thinker, politically sound, with a calm personality who vividly enjoys reading and writing.
A faint voice of despair echoes: “self-centredness.” The political class and elites in Manipur are driven by opportunism. The BJP in Manipur is a relatively recent phenomenon; most of its party leaders have shifted from other parties. The politics in the state is ideologically dead. What Meitei politicians want is nothing but the post of Chief Minister of the state. He said, “You will know my thinking if you read some of my writings,” and showed me an opinion piece he had recently written in a local daily, telling me to take the paper with me if needed.
Frantically, he stood up from his chair, showing me some old, dusty booklets he had managed to print out during the last two assembly elections. With a look of hopelessness and a hint of anger on his face, he told me, “See this? I have managed to print this out for the candidates and karyakartas (active workers of the BJP) for their reading. However, very few have shown interest in this initiative,” he further stated. He told me to take it and see if it could be of help in my research.
He discusses his exclusion and that of his old colleagues from sharing thoughts and guidance with newly joined party leaders and members. The BJP state office is filled with young minds who think in hollow terms or focus on numbers without commitment or adherence to party philosophies. “We have come to make the BJP win elections, we are not concerned with the party’s ideology,” he said. This is what we heard from them.
He fondly remembers his father, Meinam Amuba Singh, who used to trade coconuts; even on that day, I saw dried coconut shells and husks still in their old Sangoi (out-house). In front was their Meitei yumjao (a typical Meitei house-building style rooted in culture), where he grew up. It was his father who taught him to think freely, instilled in him a sense of political consciousness, and encouraged him to travel and discover more.
As he shared the BJP’s history, he told me that Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, was a great man and a humanist who was mysteriously found dead on a railway track of Mughalsarai Railway Station near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Integral Humanism, the developmental philosophy of today’s BJP, was developed by him.
When the BJP’s Manipur president was appointed, there were tussles among karayakartas. He told me that Atal Bihari Vajpayee personally visited their Meitei yumjao and wanted him to be the state president of the BJP, and even helped install a landline at his home for better communication. He later became the state BJP president multiple times as well as the party’s national secretary.
“Radhabinod Koijam from the Samata Party was a political giant during our times; compared to him, I am nobody.” However, some politicians find his ruling style to be ‘despotic.’ Following the 2001 state assembly election, the Samata Party, formed in 1994 by George Mathew Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, formed a coalition in Manipur, led by Radhabinod Koijam, which included six legislators from the BJP.
Radhabinod Koijam was sworn in as the tenth Chief Minister of Manipur, serving for a short period of 106 days. His party-led coalition collapsed on June 1, 2001, leading to the imposition of President’s rule in the state the next day. Two weeks later, on June 18, a protest over the Naga insurgency escalated out of control, sparked by three words: “without territorial limits,” in relation to the extension of the ceasefire between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) and the Indian Government. On that day, angry mobs came to burn Meinam Bhorot’s yumjao, but it was saved. Instead, some important papers were removed and burnt to ashes.
“Atal Bihari Vajpayee would ring me up constantly to calm me and not ‘topple’ the Samata Party-led government in Manipur, as the party was in coalition with the BJP and the Centre”, Meinam Bhorot Singh opposed.
In March 2002, fresh elections were held after lifting the President’s rule, and the Indian National Congress won 20 assembly seats; the BJP won four seats, including Meinam Bhorot Singh, who won the Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency by defeating Radhabinod Koijam. However, the party’s seat count had been reduced from six to four.
When asked about his political ventures, his reply was idealistic, and he was a politician who firmly stood by his promises on development-related issues. He was opposed to the use of money and muscle power, and it was for these reasons that he lost the consecutive election.
He shared his personal views on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Manipur. He told me that the organisation is predominantly composed of Meitei Brahmins who have little field experience in state politics but always try to take credit for the BJP’s electoral victory. However, during the BJP’s early days, the RSS’s swayamsevaks worked closely with the party and contributed to its formation.
He said the insurgents from the valley used to stand firmly against their party’s ideology, but there have been some openings for engagement in recent years. When asked about the nature of the ongoing violence in the state, he firmly upheld its legitimacy, saying it was to protect Manipur from problems such as illegal encroachments of forest land, drug issues, and immigration. He questioned the Manipuris for blaming the party instead and for their lack of investigation into the cause of the violence.
Looking at my watch, I saw that more than two hours had passed, so I decided to conclude the interview. I thanked him for his time and suggested scheduling another interview next month, which he agreed to. As I prepared to leave, he presented me with two of his books: ‘Chahi Ahum (Maning Tamlaba Meerot),’ which deals with political themes, and ‘Madam (Aroiba Saruk),’ a series of novels.
Meinam Bhorot Singh, a BJP karyakarta from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era, was a statesman whose romantic and poetic grace was often reflected in his writings. A consensus builder and a moderate, he embodied the characteristics of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s leadership style. Like Vajpayee, he can be remembered as AjataShatru (one with no enemies) and a practitioner of Raj Dharma (ethical conduct), serving the people with sincerity and dedication.
The writer is ICSSR-doctoral candidate, Department of Political Science, Manipur University
