2012 poll : Is the media ready ? Waiting for Godot ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 04 2011 -

Charges and counter charges over an allegation of firing at the election meeting of a first time projected candidate in Heingang Assembly Constituency, vehicles torched in Tamenglong district headquarters ostensibly in connection with an election related campaign, accusations levelled against the sitting MLA of Wangjing-Tentha M Hemanta and his security escorts of opening fire on a group of people and the subsequent retaliation resulting in ransacking the office of the block Congress Committee at Wangjing bazar, the assertion of M Hemanta that an election meeting was first stoned and attacked by a mob and at the same time refuting the allegation that he opened fire from his licensed gun.

All these incidents are sure pointers to the fact that electioneering has indeed begun to pick up pace in some of the 60 Assembly Constituencies in the State and are precursors of the things to come.

No one seems to know what is going on, a fine reflection of how the law enforcing agencies work as well as a damning statement on the lack of teeth of the State media.

A brief look at the profile of the intending candidates will leave no one in doubt of where the State is headed if the people do not exercise their voting rights sensibly, with a sincere concern for the land as a whole.

The first sign that the election bug has bitten was felt when there emerged a series of social workers in some of the Assembly Constituencies. The State media did their bit in projecting these social workers as candidate material and increasingly a good number of newspapers published in Imphal, including The Sangai Express, started carrying the beaming faces of these social workers gifting bags of rice, lentils, clothings or whatever it may be.

Truly the “investment” for the next election had started. No one, least of all the media, was bothered to study the antecedents of these social workers or basically what is meant by social workers.

And so it is that numerous do gooders suddenly appeared on the horizon of Manipur and the interesting point is that no one has deemed it fit to question where they were all these years.

That there are seasons for socially productive activities to be conducted is something that may be unique to Manipur or is it something that comes along with the election to the largest democracy in the world ?

The emergence of social workers seems to have been taken over by some violent incidents now and then, if what happened at Tamenglong district headquarters, Heingang Assembly Constituency and Wangjing Tentha Assembly Constituency in the last few days are anything to go by.

With each incident that ends up with no definitive answer, the credibility of the law enforcing agencies and the State media further gets eroded and in many ways what is happening in the election theatre is a fall out of the disconnect between the institutions which are there to uphold the rule of law and the institutions which ought to keep the people informed.

Left unsaid, but nevertheless understood are the elements that fuel these activities—money and muscle power. These two again feed off on each other, with money power attracting muscle power and muscle power helping in gaining more money power.

It is a state of a near picture perfect matrimonial bliss. With the election code of conduct a few good months away, the use of money is yet to come under the official radar of the Election Commission and this is the reason why independent institutions like the media need to be sensitive and to be on the alert.

Waiting for the law enforcing agencies would amount to waiting for Godot. It is never a pleasant experience to admit the ugly truth but the fact is, expecting the media to sharpen its teeth and claws at this moment, may also just amount to waiting for Godot. Due apologies to Samuel Beckett.

In as much as it is the failure of the voters to elect the representatives whose heart beats for the welfare of the land and the people, it also stands true that it is also a reflection of the collective failure of the fourth estate here.

This brings to mind an article written by a young officer in the State adminis- tration a few months back, where a harsh critical look was focused on the State media. A wake up jolt for the State media is in line.

Despite the numerous handicaps faced such as poor man power and lack of support system, not to speak of poor financial back up, there is no reason why the media in Manipur cannot do a better job.

This is not to rubbish the work done so far but there are still lots of room for improvement. For starters what exactly happened at Heingang and Wangjing Tentha ?

The Sangai Express does not have an answer to this right now .