Manipur is still bleeding from years of ethnic violence, displacement, and broken trust. Yet right now, the state BJP unit has suddenly found its voice, not for the IDPs stuck in relief camps, not for faster rehabilitation, not even for accountability from Delhi, but to shout down Congress over something that happened in faraway Delhi.
The India AI Impact Summit became a national embarrassment when Galgotias University paraded a ready-made Chinese robotic dog (the Unitree Go2, nicknamed “Orion”) as home-grown Indian innovation. The Indian Youth Congress hit back with protests, including the much-talked-about shirtless demonstration, slamming the Modi government for poor oversight and turning a showcase event into what they called a “disorganised PR disaster” that made India look ridiculous abroad.
The Manipur BJP jumped in with both feet. They called the IYC protest “indecent theatrics,” an attempt to “tarnish India’s image,” and proof that Congress has an “anti-India mindset.” Slogans rang out on the street as BJP Mahila Morcha and BJYM members chanted “Uproot Congress,” “Shameless party—Congress party,” and “Enemy of Youth—Congress party.”
One Mahila Morcha leader even declared Congress the “enemy of youth.”Really? Did that same leader, or anyone else in the Manipur BJP Mahila Morcha, ever say a word about the UGC’s new 2026 equity regulations that so many see as a deadly trap for millions of general-category youths across India?
Not a whisper.These street protests are the clearest sign yet that elections are around the corner. For the last three years of unrelenting violence in Manipur, hundreds dead, tens of thousands displaced, families still living in camps, the same karyakartas never once took to the streets against the Centre.
No rallies demanding proper welfare and speedy rehabilitation for IDPs. No dharnas calling out the Union government for its handling of the crisis. And certainly no protests against their own party MLAs—Paolienlal Haokip, Letpao Haokip—or even their ex Outer Manipur Lok Sabha candidate Benjamin Mate, all of whom have publicly criticised former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, a towering figure in the state BJP.
But now, when the poll bugle is about to sound, suddenly Congress becomes the enemy and national controversies get imported into Imphal.
The hypocrisy doesn’t stop there. When the UGC’s Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026 came out, rules meant to fight caste discrimination on campuses but criticised for lacking safeguards against misuse and for tilting heavily toward SC/ST/OBC students while leaving general-category students exposed, the backlash was massive.
Campuses in UP, Delhi, Bihar and elsewhere saw angry protests. Upper-caste students called it a “black law” and warned of reverse discrimination. Petitions piled up, the Supreme Court stayed the rules over vagueness and misuse fears, and even inside the BJP more than a dozen local leaders in Uttar Pradesh resigned, accusing the Centre of betraying its own upper-caste base.
Where was Manipur BJP then? Invisible. No fiery statements, no imported anger, no Mahila Morcha voices calling the UGC rules an “enemy of youth,” even though thousands of general-category students see them as exactly that. The unit that was so eager to drag a Delhi Congress protest home stayed completely quiet on a national issue that actually hurt a core part of their own voter base.
This is classic election-season politics: get loud against the opposition the moment votes are in sight, stay silent on everything else, especially when it involves criticising the Centre or holding your own leaders accountable.In a state already torn apart by ethnic fault lines, reservation fights, and years of bloodshed, dragging in unrelated national rows does nothing useful.
It distracts from real local failures, fuels more division, and solves zero problems. If Manipur BJP really cared about youth and national issues, they would have spoken up consistently, on the UGC rules, on IDP welfare, on the handling of the violence not just when it’s convenient for poll optics.
People here deserve better. They deserve leaders who show the same outrage for Manipur’s suffering as they do for a Delhi robot-dog embarrassment. They deserve consistency, not selective anger timed to the election calendar.
Until that changes, these sudden street shows will remain what they are: convenient outrage, switched on when polls draw near and switched off the rest of the time.
Enjoy the Editorial of Signpost News, edited every Tuesday.