Aloof men at the helm of MPCC : Classified information ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 06 2012 -

It probably is one of the most awaited Friday releases in the last five years. The only question is whether Mr Gaikhangam and his men will oblige or not.

This is the second time in a row that the Congress has kept the people or rather the political observers on tenterhooks, the first one coming in 2007 when Manipur voted for her 9th Assembly.

Being in power for ten long years can induce certain behavioural pattern, especially in a place like Manipur where a popularly elected Government has never ever lasted its full five year term, until O Ibobi Singh came in 2002 as the man from Khangabok riding a combination of developments in which he may not have had a hand at all but which went a long way to earn him the record of being the first Chief Minister in Manipur to complete a full term in office.

The most significant of this was the stringent anti-defection Bill passed by the then BJP led NDA Government. Go one up on the record of five unbroken years in power with another spell to take the total to ten years and here emerges a near perfect recipe for certain behavioural pattern to emerge.

And one of the more visible characteristics of the behavioural pattern here is certainly the air of aloofness maintained by the men in positions of responsibility within the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee.

Taking the art of aping the ‘enigmatic’ hallmark that was made synonymous with the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi by the Delhi media to new heights, if we may add. Election to the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly is scheduled for January 28 and already campaigning has kicked up tempo all over the 60 Assembly Constituencies.

It is in keeping with this line that the Opposition alliance of the MPP, NCP and Janata Dal (U) christened the People's Democratic Front, the MSCP, CPI and TC have already announced the first list of candidates with the exceptions being the BJP (The State unit of the party is yet to officially announce the list), the Naga People's Front and most notably the Congress.

The three parties here may have their own political compulsions, election strategy being one of them, for not yet officially declaring the names of the candidates, but the aloofness maintained by the people manning the MPCC may not exactly qualify as part of the election strategy.

It is an internal affair of the Congress, no doubt about it, and the party is within its rights to keep everything under wraps until the moment it deems it fit to go public with whatever it has up its sleeves in connection with the election. The Congress is not obliged to explain why it still has not officially drawn up the names of the candidates.

As the party which is heading the UPA Government at the Centre and more importantly as the party which has been in power for the last ten years in Manipur without a break in between and with the same man at the helm of affairs, it is but natural for the people to be overly anxious and curious about the aspiring candidates who have applied for the party's ticket.

With so many aspiring candidates vying to be baptised as Congress candidates, the pressure of pulls and pressures can only be imagined and the failure to come out with an official announcement of the candidates even after the MPCC president and the Chief Minister have returned to Imphal after a bout of screening do of the potential candidates at Delhi along with the AICC may be understood in this light.

However can all these factors taken together as a whole rationally explain why matters related to the election, especially the list of candidates, should be projected as some sort of a State secret or classified information ? Such a stand not only confuses the people but could also lead to unhealthy speculations amongst the people and thereby create an atmosphere where so many things can be read into.

Not at all a healthy practise. Ten long years in power and the least that is expected from the oldest political party in the country is to respect what the people want to know.

This does not necessarily mean that they should spill out everything, but the least the top men at the MPCC (I) can do is to answer some queries from the media, who in turn can inform the people.

Mr Gaikhangam is not exactly known to come to the phone willingly and perfectly complementing him is the spokesman of the party. Or is it a question of the longer the people are kept in suspense the more thrilling it gets for everyone ? Not our idea of entertainment at all and certainly the Congress is not here to entertain.