A 2012 batch former cop who named the chief minister in a drug scandal and is now contesting on a Janata Dal (United) ticket from Yaskul constituency. She is taking on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Thokchom Satyabrata Singh.
She began her campaigning at 6am, going door-to-door to convince voters why she is a better choice. Micro meetings, she says, are key to her campaign. When asked if voted to power, what would her priority be, Brinda has a clear answer: “Stopping the drug cartel.”
Brinda Thounaojam, a former super-cop known as “Manipur’s Lady Singham” is venturing into electoral politics after a series of setbacks to her career as a police officer.
Thounaojam came into the limelight after a high-profile case involving a haul of drugs worth over Rs 27 crore in the international market in 2018. She was conferred a gallantry award the same year by Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh. Two years later, Thounaojam returned the award after she fell out with CM, whom she accused of having a hand in acquitting the main accused in the drug case.
A mother of three, Thounaojam’s husband Rajkumar Chinglen is a software professional. She resigned from service in 2016 citing discrimination, harrasment and suspicion for being the infamous “daughter-in-law”. (Her father-in-law is RK Meghen, leader of the United National Liberation Front, a dreaded rebel armed group active in Manipur and the Northeast region.)
