Agartala, April 13 (Agencies): The number of women candidates fighting the upcoming parliamentary polls in the northeast has increased from seven in 2004 to 18 this time, although just three of the women candidates have been fielded by national parties.
There are a total of 218 candidates for the 24 Lok Sabha seats from the seven northeastern states. Of the 18 women candidates in the fray, one each has been fielded by the national parties - the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), while the remaining are either candidates put by regional parties or are independents.
Interestingly, despite women’s participation in politics being negligible in the northeast, the number of women voters is more than their male counterparts in Manipur, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. Among the 18 women aspirants, eleven are from Assam followed by three each in Manipur and Meghalaya and one in Tripura.
Former central minister and BJP candidate in Assam’s Guwahati constituency Bijoya Chakraborty, 70, is the oldest woman candidate, while 28-year-old Agatha K. Sangma - the NCP candidate from Tura constituency of Meghalaya - is the youngest. Agatha, the daughter of former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma, told IANS she would “fight tooth and nail” for passing the long pending Women’s Reservation Bill in parliament.
Of the seven women candidates who contested the 2004 elections, none had got elected, while six had even forfeited their security deposits.
“Although we talk about equal participation of men and women in the parliamentary system of democracy, in reality we find political parties actually biased against women when it comes to providing them tickets to contest the polls,” said Fulan Bhattacharjee, a woman activist and political analyst.
Zeliangrong Naga councils defend Charenamei
Dimapur, April 13 (MExN): A joint statement has been issued by the Zeme, Liangmai, Inpui and Rongmei Naga councils on what was stated to be the “false accusation of Prof G. Kamei against sitting Member of Parliament from Outer Manipur constituency Mani Charenamei”. The press note stated that the four councils were clarifying on the misleading accusation that Mani Charenamei was betraying and creating division among the Zeliangrong. “The people of the above named communities have been demanding for rectification of the misnomer and imperfect nomenclature of Kacha Naga for Zeme and Liangmai, Kabui for Rongmei and Inpui for the last 4 decades or so,” stated the joint statement issued by Th. Panmei, President, Rongmei Naga Council, AK Kumba, President, Inpui Naga Union, CH. Dithinbou, President, Liangmai Naga Council and D. Apung, President, Zeme Naga Council. It mentioned that the move for correction of the wrongs committed by the British India regime had gained momentum and support of about 95% or more and that seeing the “uncared attitude of the concerned authorities to the demand of the people, the leaders of the respective communities took a joint decision and filed a case with the Gauhati High Court for correction of the wrongly enlisted tribe names in the Schedule Tribes list of Manipur.
It was informed that after hearing the genuine and rightful claim, the court had directed the concerned ministries, government of India and State government of Manipur to look into the matter and do the needful at an early date. It was disclosed that in compliance with the court directives, the State cabinet took a decision to recommend the case of Kacha Naga and Kabui to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, government of India for necessary correction of the wrongs. Accordingly the ministry had conveyed the decision of the government to the authority concerned.
The joint statement clarified that the sitting MP Mani Charenamei as a public representative “insistently pursued” the State recommendation to fulfill the long felt demands of the people to do away with the disgracing terms like Kacha Naga and Kabui. “It is the desire of the people of Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei and Inpui to be identified by their own original names. They are fed up of being called by a foreign term like kacha Naga and Kabui,” stated the press note. It clarified that Mani Charenamei had no ulterior motives of betraying and creating division among the Zeliangrong. “What he did was to realize the dreams of the concerned people to be identified by a correct name,” it stated.
The four councils also termed as mockery that the BJP candidate Loli Adanee during his campaign at Tamenglong on April 7 had said that he would work for recognition of Zeliangrong as a single tribe if he is elected. Further Adanee stated that he would bring about reconciliation between Zeliangrong Union and Zeliangrong Baudi. “The people of Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei and Inpui should not be misled by such a false election promises at this juncture,” the joint statement stated while pointing out that if the recognition of Zeliangrong was a workable one, “it would have been long before”. “The efforts to recognize Zeliangrong as a schedule tribe had already been foiled by his strong supporter Prof Kamei since some years ago,” it also stated.
The statement also maintained that “seeing the unworkable efforts to bring recognition of these ethnic groups to a single tribe”, the people of the said communities had organized themselves into their respective tribal councils and fighting for separate enlistment in the schedule tribe list of Manipur. “When such is the ground reality how can a person who is not a member of the community do the work,” it queried while adding that the effort to recognize Zeliangrong as a single tribe had been “turned down on technical ground for the people of Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei and Inpui speak different languages” and that no one from the said communities should vote for Loli Adanee.
It also termed as unfortunate the allegations of Prof Kamei accusing Mani Charenamei of opposing inclusion of Tamenglong district in the railway line network. Instead, it pointed out that Charenamei had put pressure on the railway ministry for timely completion of the work and he had also obtained approval of the railway ministry to open a railway ticket booking counter at every hill district. The implantation of the orders in this regard is lying with the state government, it clarified. The joint statement termed as baseless and uncalled for the accusation against Charenamei by Prof Kamei and claimed that people of the four communities had reposed their trust on his dynamic leadership and asserted their “strong support to elect him again to accomplish his uncompleted works and serve the tribals living in Manipur in greater scale”.
Source: www.morungexpress.com
There are a total of 218 candidates for the 24 Lok Sabha seats from the seven northeastern states. Of the 18 women candidates in the fray, one each has been fielded by the national parties - the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), while the remaining are either candidates put by regional parties or are independents.
Interestingly, despite women’s participation in politics being negligible in the northeast, the number of women voters is more than their male counterparts in Manipur, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. Among the 18 women aspirants, eleven are from Assam followed by three each in Manipur and Meghalaya and one in Tripura.
Former central minister and BJP candidate in Assam’s Guwahati constituency Bijoya Chakraborty, 70, is the oldest woman candidate, while 28-year-old Agatha K. Sangma - the NCP candidate from Tura constituency of Meghalaya - is the youngest. Agatha, the daughter of former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma, told IANS she would “fight tooth and nail” for passing the long pending Women’s Reservation Bill in parliament.
Of the seven women candidates who contested the 2004 elections, none had got elected, while six had even forfeited their security deposits.
“Although we talk about equal participation of men and women in the parliamentary system of democracy, in reality we find political parties actually biased against women when it comes to providing them tickets to contest the polls,” said Fulan Bhattacharjee, a woman activist and political analyst.
Zeliangrong Naga councils defend Charenamei
Dimapur, April 13 (MExN): A joint statement has been issued by the Zeme, Liangmai, Inpui and Rongmei Naga councils on what was stated to be the “false accusation of Prof G. Kamei against sitting Member of Parliament from Outer Manipur constituency Mani Charenamei”. The press note stated that the four councils were clarifying on the misleading accusation that Mani Charenamei was betraying and creating division among the Zeliangrong. “The people of the above named communities have been demanding for rectification of the misnomer and imperfect nomenclature of Kacha Naga for Zeme and Liangmai, Kabui for Rongmei and Inpui for the last 4 decades or so,” stated the joint statement issued by Th. Panmei, President, Rongmei Naga Council, AK Kumba, President, Inpui Naga Union, CH. Dithinbou, President, Liangmai Naga Council and D. Apung, President, Zeme Naga Council. It mentioned that the move for correction of the wrongs committed by the British India regime had gained momentum and support of about 95% or more and that seeing the “uncared attitude of the concerned authorities to the demand of the people, the leaders of the respective communities took a joint decision and filed a case with the Gauhati High Court for correction of the wrongly enlisted tribe names in the Schedule Tribes list of Manipur.
It was informed that after hearing the genuine and rightful claim, the court had directed the concerned ministries, government of India and State government of Manipur to look into the matter and do the needful at an early date. It was disclosed that in compliance with the court directives, the State cabinet took a decision to recommend the case of Kacha Naga and Kabui to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, government of India for necessary correction of the wrongs. Accordingly the ministry had conveyed the decision of the government to the authority concerned.
The joint statement clarified that the sitting MP Mani Charenamei as a public representative “insistently pursued” the State recommendation to fulfill the long felt demands of the people to do away with the disgracing terms like Kacha Naga and Kabui. “It is the desire of the people of Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei and Inpui to be identified by their own original names. They are fed up of being called by a foreign term like kacha Naga and Kabui,” stated the press note. It clarified that Mani Charenamei had no ulterior motives of betraying and creating division among the Zeliangrong. “What he did was to realize the dreams of the concerned people to be identified by a correct name,” it stated.
The four councils also termed as mockery that the BJP candidate Loli Adanee during his campaign at Tamenglong on April 7 had said that he would work for recognition of Zeliangrong as a single tribe if he is elected. Further Adanee stated that he would bring about reconciliation between Zeliangrong Union and Zeliangrong Baudi. “The people of Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei and Inpui should not be misled by such a false election promises at this juncture,” the joint statement stated while pointing out that if the recognition of Zeliangrong was a workable one, “it would have been long before”. “The efforts to recognize Zeliangrong as a schedule tribe had already been foiled by his strong supporter Prof Kamei since some years ago,” it also stated.
The statement also maintained that “seeing the unworkable efforts to bring recognition of these ethnic groups to a single tribe”, the people of the said communities had organized themselves into their respective tribal councils and fighting for separate enlistment in the schedule tribe list of Manipur. “When such is the ground reality how can a person who is not a member of the community do the work,” it queried while adding that the effort to recognize Zeliangrong as a single tribe had been “turned down on technical ground for the people of Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei and Inpui speak different languages” and that no one from the said communities should vote for Loli Adanee.
It also termed as unfortunate the allegations of Prof Kamei accusing Mani Charenamei of opposing inclusion of Tamenglong district in the railway line network. Instead, it pointed out that Charenamei had put pressure on the railway ministry for timely completion of the work and he had also obtained approval of the railway ministry to open a railway ticket booking counter at every hill district. The implantation of the orders in this regard is lying with the state government, it clarified. The joint statement termed as baseless and uncalled for the accusation against Charenamei by Prof Kamei and claimed that people of the four communities had reposed their trust on his dynamic leadership and asserted their “strong support to elect him again to accomplish his uncompleted works and serve the tribals living in Manipur in greater scale”.
Source: www.morungexpress.com
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