[dropcap]N[/dropcap]arendra Modi’s elevation to prime ministerial nominee of the Bharatiya Janata Party was written on the sands given that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh would have it no other way. There is no doubt that the Gujarat Chief Minister enjoys huge cadre support, the reason why the RSS wanted him named the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in the first place. Party stalwarts like Sushma Swaraj who is leader of the opposition and should rightfully be the BJP’s shadow Prime Minister will see her ascendancy into the party leadership come to an end just as LK Advani has seen the curtains fall on him.While the national parties at the centre debate over the ‘prime ministerial’ material of their respective candidates …far away from Delhi smaller states in the east will have to view and study these events dispassionately. The Prime Minister is where the buck stops regarding programme policies the orientation of schemes for the under developed regions of the country, the interpretation of constitutional laws as we already in the imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Distrurbed Area Act . In the case of Nagaland, Article 371 (A) in which is enshrined the unique stature of the creation of the state of Nagaland can also become vulnerable and liable to legal scrutiny .
Modi is not a Vajpayee. The former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been hailed as one of the last statesman in the country and widely accepted as one even within the Congress party. Modi in contrast is the image of a man in a hurry. His meteoric rise within the ranks and file of the BJP could not have been without the tacit support of the RSS and the VHP. As a veteran politician rightfully said ‘India requires a leader who is secular in outlook,not aleader who will only think of the country in terms of apolitical party’. This will leave out many vulnerable sections of the diverse society of the country’. And in the north east we can certainly count ourselves among that number.
