[Bengia Ajum]
With the 2024 general elections just months away, the political parties in the state are gearing up for it. Arunachal Pradesh sends two MPs to the Lok Sabha. At present, union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju represents the western parliamentary constituency, and Tapir Gao the eastern parliamentary constituency. Both are senior leaders of the BJP. The saffron party is expected to nominate both for the same seats.
With the opposition parties fragmented, the chances of putting up a united candidate appear next to impossible for now. Recently, four parties – Janata Dal (Secular), Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, and People’s Party of Arunachal – announced that former minister Bida Taku will be their consensus candidate in the upcoming parliament election from the Arunachal West parliamentary constituency. Taku has been a minister in the state cabinet in the past, and hails from East Kameng district. Announcing this, Trinamool Congress’ state unit convener Minkir Lollen further claimed that “talks are also going on with Janata Dal (United) and the Congress party in this regard.” The statement is significant, considering the fact that recently, Toko Mina, one of the most vocal opposition leaders and vice president of the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), during a meeting of the party staked claim for a Congress ticket from the western parliamentary constituency.
Mina, who claims to be a Congress volunteer since 1999, started her career as secretary in-charge of media of the APCC in 2017. She has an MPhil degree from the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. During her spell as the spokesperson of the Congress, Mina emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of the BJP government in the state. While the Congress party has not officially responded to media queries over the report of Mina’s claiming a party ticket, it was widely reported in the local media. She will be the second woman to seek a Congress party ticket from the western parliamentary constituency in the last nine years. In 2019, one of the prominent women’s rights activists and long-time Congress leader, Jarjum Ete, had sought the Congress ticket. After being denied a ticket, she left the party and fought the election on a Janata Dal (S) ticket. She lost the election, and since then has remained out of the political scene.
With Mina making a case for herself so early, the Congress has a big decision to make in the coming days. Can the Congress afford to deny a ticket to a woman candidate for a second successive time?
Even though there is a strong anti-incumbency factor against sitting MP and union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, failure to put up a formidable opposition candidate might sway the votes in his favour. With the ruling BJP having advantage of money and muscle power, the opposition candidate will find it very hard to put up a strong fight. Though the general elections are just a few months away, the principal opposition party, Congress, is still struggling to finalise its candidates, and its strategy at the grassroots level is not clear.
Unlike the party’s national leaders and national campaigns, which are going all-out against the ruling BJP, the state Congress unit has mostly maintained stoic silence over allegations of misgovernance against the Pema Khandu-led BJP government in the state. Further, there is no clarity over the candidature of the party, either from the western or the eastern parliamentary constituency. To take on a formidable BJP, the party ideally should have started preparations much earlier. While Mina has presented a strong case for herself from the western parliamentary constituency, things are silent on the eastern parliamentary constituency as of now.
