Newmai News Network
Imphal: “If I am elected, my first priority will be regaining the lost prestige of Manipur,” said Dr. Angomcha Bimol Akoijam who will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Inner Manipur Parliamentary constituency as Congress sponsored consensus candidate of INDIA bloc.
Akoijam, who is a professor at JNU New Delhi arrived in Imphal today. On his arrival at Bir Tikendrajit Airport, Imphal, he was accorded a warm welcome by a large number of his supporters including Congress leaders and workers.
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Talking to reporters, Dr. Bimol Akoijam said that people should not think about the upcoming elections very lightly. The voters need to have self-respect.
Now, the time has come to leave behind the culture of involving in elections for the sake of money. The mindsets of the people, particularly electors, have not changed, he observed.
He decided to fight the election with a notion to bring a new political culture.
Manipur needs a new political culture and if money and muscle powers swept the elections this time, it will be hard to bring Manipur back to its previous state of harmonic coexistence among the people of different communities, he said.
At the same time, he said that he was saddened by what has been witnessed in the state in the last 10 months.
He is very much unsatisfied with the prevailing situation in which the state is seemingly losing its respect and prestige.
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If the people elect him, he will work at his best level to regain the lost respect and prestige of Manipur and embark on a journey to forge a renewed Manipur which the people yearn for, he said.
To a query from the reporters regarding his decision to contest the election, Dr. Akoijam said that the prevailing situation in the state, particularly in the last more than 10 months compelled him to step into the realm of electoral politics.
He has been always involved in political discourse and extremely unsatisfied with the way the BJP rules the country and the state.
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While searching for a political party to counter the BJP rule, he chose the Congress considering its organizational structure. The party has its own well organized structure besides working systematically from the grass root level.
Dr. Akoijam also appealed to the people of the state not to treat the upcoming election as a routine democratic event but take it as an opportunity to rejuvenate the state for a brighter future.
He further urged the people to be self-respect and integrity in the electoral process and not to succumb to monetary for votes.
Dr. Akoijam was also accorded a warm-welcome by leaders and workers of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) in Congress Bhavan where he met with MPCC president Keisham Meghachandra, former chief minister Okram Ibobi, CWC member Gaikhangam and the party’s sitting MLAs.
The MPCC also extended a warm welcome to Alfred Kangam Arthur who has been nominated as Congress sponsored consensus candidate of INDIA bloc for the Outer Parliamentary constituency.
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