Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 19
The Nagaland State BJP unit has a new President: Temjen Imna Along Longkumer, also the Nagaland State Cabinet’s Minister for Higher & Technical Education.
In an unprecedented move, Bharatiya Janata Party National President, Amit Shah, appointed Temjen Imna Along as President of Nagaland State BJP, replacing Visasolie Lhoungu who has been State president since January 2016. His 3-year tenure as party president would have ended in January 2019.
Imna Along’s appointment “comes into immediate effect,” stated a letter signed by Arun Singh, 'National General Secretary & Headquarter Incharge' of the BJP.
The letter of appointment from the BJP central office announcing Temjen Imna Along Lonkumers presidentship to the Nagaland State BJP unit.
“I knew something was going on in Delhi but I didn’t think it would be so early. We will work in every way to centre the party,” said Temjen Imna Along while speaking to The Morung Express Tuesday evening. He was signing an agreement for a college in Mangkolemba on Tuesday when he was notified of the BJP’s decision to make him Nagaland BJP’s president. “I have been asked to come to Kohima immediately,” he informed, acknowledging that the outgoing president, Visasolie Lhoungu, is a “capable leader and still a BJP man.”
The decision, taken by the BJP central leadership, took several workers of BJP Nagaland by surprise.
First, the letter gave way to suspicions of it being fake—it was not on the official saffron-green BJP letterhead and misspelled the minister’s name apart from putting his ‘nickname’ on it. According to the letter, the appointment was given to ‘Tajmen Imna Along (Sumo)’.
“That is not a respectable way to appoint someone so I thought the news was false,” said a BJP politician. Its appearance on the BJP’s website on Tuesday helped confirm the news.
The “initiative” to affect a change in leadership has been going on since the past 2-3 months, acknowledged a long time BJP worker of Nagaland State. While it is “hard to say who took this initiative,” the decision to change the party president was taken unilaterally by the BJP office at the centre. “It is a cadre based party in theory and constitution but in practice, the centre likes to take unilateral decisions,” said the worker for whom the news “came like a bolt.”
The BJP being a “presidential system,” politics are a mainstay of the presidential position. “Every term has been completed with great difficulty in the past 15 years,” explained the worker, because “once a president changes, everything changes down to the grassroots.” Everyone wants to control the position.
And thus its organizing. The BJP is all about organizing down to the grassroots and Visasolie’s experience of being a bureaucrat is said to have been a hindrance to his organizing skills. Though the party went on to win 12 out of 20 seats it contested to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly earlier this year under his leadership, a few leaders from the central BJP office maintained tight control over the process. In August, BJP Nagaland goes into its own election process followed by the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, making Imna Along’s appointment even more significant.
“This is a national party. It is a normal thing for the central leadership to make adjustments,” held another senior leader of BJP Nagaland State who also found out about the decision only after it was put on the BJP’s website.
“Maybe they were expecting him (Visasolie) to do more as head of the party but we cannot blame him,” said the leader repeating that “it all depends on the centre.”
Technically, the BJP has rules to elect a party president; s/he must be an active member of the party for at least 10 years to be eligible to even run for the post. However, the rule was sidelined in the case of Visasolie, as also in the case of Imna Along.
“Visasolie was parachuted but this is common. Sarbananda Sonowal was also parachuted for the mass support he drew and his experience. Imna Along is young and dynamic and thus the choice,” speculated the leader.
Visasolie Lhoungu is also the co-chairman of the People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) that is ruling Nagaland State. Additionally, he was appointed Nagaland Bamboo Development Agency (NBDA) chairman by the Neiphiu Rio-led government right after the 2018 election.
“Since the matter has been informed only today, the PDA will meet soon to discuss. The co-chair of the Alliance may have to remain with the office of the State BJP President. However, the decision will be taken only after the PDA sitting,” said Merentoshi Jamir, Spokesperson of the PDA, while responding to The Morung Express. As for his chairmanship of the NBDA, “I see no reason why he will not continue,” noted Jamir.
Visasolie Lhoungu could not be reached for comment.
