Arguably, the most important question in every Manipuri's mind in contemporary times is "who is responsible for Manipur's woes?" Perhaps, There is an array of reasons, but who creates such reasons? Since it is impossible to blame each & everybody in Manipur, the easiest answer to this question has always been very plain and simple - our corrupt and spineless politicians ! But, who creates our corrupt politicians? The people - we the people have created such a despicable atmosphere that only corrupt politicians can survive in Manipur, simple reason being that no man of integrity can win elections in Manipur without bribing us and worse, without bluffing us! Hence, the inevitable conclusion can arguably be that the problem lies with "we the people" and by logical inference, the remedy should lie with us as well.

Then, how do we change ourselves? The easiest way to change ourselves will surely be to change the way we elect our leaders, the way we prescribe their standards, the way we keep our politicians on tenterhooks and the way we make them accountable for anything that goes amiss in Manipur. The greatest challenge "how do we do it?"

Our experiment with the older generation of politicians has more or less failed; what we need today is a new generation of "Go-Getter" politicians with an unflinching dedication to Manipur's cause. Here, we should understand that the key to Manipur's progress lies in fast industrialization and for this, we need honest, sophisticated, confident and educated leaders who are conversant with the nuts and bolts of corporate practice and with the right vision to sell investment and business opportunities of Manipur. Instead of gasping for words, our leaders should have the right exposure and knowledge to address National and International Business Conferences, negotiate for foreign funds for the various developmental projects in Manipur, have the sagacity to portray Manipur as a potential regional business hub with the right statistics and negotiate/bargain or even sometimes "bully" the Central Government and Bureaucrats for Manipur's pound of flesh. In a nutshell, we need very aggressive, dynamic, sophisticated and honest leaders with Manipur and only Manipur in their heart and the commitment to shed the last drop of their blood for Manipur's cause. Once we are clear as to who we are looking for as our leaders, the mission is half accomplished. By the way, we have enough of such high caliber men and women; it is just that we have created too hostile an atmosphere for them to come out.

Nevertheless, the most intriguing part of this whole gamut is to develop a full-proof mechanism for the right people to come out and get elected! Time has proved that the existing laws in India are mere paper tigers when to comes to our own politicians as they are much ahead of their times, if not for any useful reason, in taking advantage of the various lacunas in the Election related laws in India - be it the Representation of People's Act, 1952 or Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct or even the Anti-Defection Law. This, indeed, is a problem India as a whole is facing at present. But in terms of remedies for such inherent problems of Indian democracy, Manipur definitely has a distinct edge over most other states. Simple reason being that Manipur has certain Extra Legal or Extra Constitutional forces at play in the form of Local Clubs, Meira Paibi Associations, Student Bodies etc. If such Organizations can totally change the color of our Yaoshang Festival to more or less a full fledged Sports Festival and can organize mammoth Rallies of lakhs of people on 'Territorial Integrity' and 'Human Rights' issues, we can definitely expect a very pro active role from such Voluntary Organizations in painting a totally different color on our much degraded Manipur politics - the color of a complete 'Issue Based Politics', bereft of corruption, bereft of hypocrisy.

Indeed, a complete issue based politics with the right people at the helm of affairs can only save Manipur and only our Voluntary Organizations and our Media, both print and electronic, can possibly create such a conducive atmosphere. But it's easier said than done and it will definitely require lot of groundwork and co-ordination amongst our various voluntary organizations and pro-active investigative journalism by our media groups.

The effectiveness of any such cleaning up act will entirely bank on how seriously and aggressively such voluntary Organizations and Media groups take up such issues and how relentlessly such ideas are sold to the public. Perhaps, umbrella organizations like the AMUCO or the UCM or an umbrella Organization, if any, of all Meira Paibi Associations will be the right bodies to undertake such a massive exercise of this scale (of course, with the support of the local Media), but this indeed will be an exercise which can easily change the history of Manipur. How do such Voluntary Organizations carry on this role on the political front?

To the above question, my answer will be that voluntary Organizations should take the center-stage in replacing the existing corrupt political edifice by a garden fresh breed of dynamic, sincere and honest visionaries. For achieving such a seemingly impossible goal, I hereby take the liberty of suggesting/prescribing the following concrete steps for our esteemed voluntary organizations:

A. A written Undertaking by our Politicians: By all means, our political reforms process should start with elections - by prescribing superlative standards for our politicians, by constantly grilling them on public issues and by constantly scrutinizing their performance even after elections. To begin with, voluntary Organizations should ask all the intending candidates in any election to make certain mandatory written commitments on various public issues, any dishonor of which should be a sufficient cause of action for the people to demand his/her resignation later on. The following can be a part of such a written Undertaking:

i. Assets Declaration: The Umbrella Organizations of our Local Clubs and Meira Paibi Associations can always make it mandatory for our politicians to declare all the assets belonging to them and their family members before contesting any Election in Manipur - one, to let the people know the 'wealth' status of their prospective leaders and two, to enable people notice any increase in the assets of our politicians (a probable pointer to corruption). The candidates should categorically declare that any increase in their assets during the term of their office would be declared to the public with reasons thereof.

ii. Future Vision: Each candidate should be asked to make his or her written view on the developmental plans of his or her Assembly or Parliamentary Constituency in particular and Manipur in general. The vision statement should focus on specific issues of economic development and employment generation.

iii. Issues Specific Views: Umbrella Organizations like the AMUCO or UMC should furnish questionnaire on very specific issues of public importance, separately for the Assembly and Parliamentary Election Candidates and make their views on such issues known to the public. For example, views of the intending candidates can be sought on specific issues like the following:-

a. What has gone wrong with the development policies of Manipur in the past?
b. What should be done to attract investment and corporate houses to Manipur?
c. What more fiscal incentives should we ask for from the Central Government?
d. What steps should be taken for rapid employment generation?
e. What steps are required for promoting export business in Manipur?
f. What steps should be taken to promote Bamboo and Cane industries, Fruit processing industries in Manipur?
g. Whether free import of goods from Moreh is affecting our domestic handloom and handicraft industry and if so, what safeguard measures should be taken?
h. How do we promote local industries in Manipur?
i. What has gone wrong with the tourism industry in Manipur and what steps are required to boost this industry in Manipur?
j. What steps should be taken up to make our Agriculture sector a self sufficient one (to prevent agricultural products from being bought from outside, inspite of our huge resources and potential)?


The above issues are just some samples; the list can certainly be many more. It is high time that we should restrict our politicians to talk or give their views only on issues we want their views on, rather than continuing with our age old tradition of allowing our politicians to open their mouths on whatever issue they choose and simply allowing ourselves to be bluffed.

iv. A pledge against corruption: Each intending candidate should make a pledge in writing that he or she shall not resort to any corrupt practice either during the campaign period or after his election. The undertaking should include an undertaking that if he or she is found involved in any corrupt practice, he or she shall be ready to take a permanent retirement from politics.

v. Anti-Defection Pledge: The Undertaking should also contain a pledge that the candidate, once elected, shall not defect to any other political party - one, to let our candidates focus on development issues rather than the usual lucrative pastime of 'horse trading' and two, to bring more political stability in Manipur. The present anti defection law allows defection provided it can be termed as a split, but this provision is more misused than used. Hence, we need some sort of a social sanction against such a serious malpractice, which has become a convenient tool for political 'blackmail' and 'money minting' for our Manipuri politicians over the years.

B. Issue based public Meetings and Conferences: Our Local clubs and voluntary organizations should organize meetings and Conferences in which all the intending candidates are asked specific questions on specific issues of public interest in Manipur. If possible, people should be allowed to ask very specific questions to all the candidates and their answers should be recorded for necessary publication the next day. The very idea behind such public meetings is that people should know the respective stand of their prospective representatives on various issues before they cast their votes. Today, the US stands out as a perfect example of a successful democracy because the US has such a system which enables its people very well know what Bush or Kerry thinks about gay marriage, the Iraq war, NATO issues, Tax Issues, BPO issue etc. months before the actual election! If we cannot be as successful as the US is, at least we can make an earnest attempt to know what our candidates think on various issues of public importance in Manipur before we cast our votes.

C. Awareness Campaign Against 'Corrupt Practices': So long as we the voters expect and continue to take the colorful currency notes from our politicians before we cast our votes, our politicians will continue to exercise their corresponding right to recover their 'investments' once they are back in power - by hook or by crook. In this regard, all our voluntary organizations should unleash a relentless campaign against corrupt practices by way of distribution of pamphlets, handbills and through advertisements in newspapers and electronic media. No person with any corruption charges should be allowed to contest elections and anyone giving or taking bribe during the election campaign period should be handed over to the police or socially ostracized and this mechanism, if deployed properly and objectively, can be made effective.

D. Low Key Election Campaign: Indeed, it is a high time our voluntary organizations ask all intending candidates and political parties to refrain from indulging in expensive electoral campaigns, impose a complete ban on 'Electoral Feasts', permanent election camps (with free booze, sports, conveyance etc.) and expensive campaign banners, posters etc. If any election banner or campaign material is to be used, it should be completely issue based.

E. Post Election Scrutiny: It will be equally important for our voluntary organizations to minutely scrutinize the performance of our elected representatives by constantly reminding them of their pre election promises, by questioning them on any instance of major deviation from their declared positions, by making them account for each and every penny of development funds (by the way, has anybody questioned any of our MPs as to how he/she has spent the annual developmental fund of Rs.2 crores ?), by making the public aware of each and every issue or question raised by our politicians in the Parliament or the State Assembly, by organizing intense campaign for removal of our elected representatives in case of any major default.

Apart from our esteemed voluntary organizations, both the Print and Electronic Media in Manipur should take a very active role by publishing past records of our politicians, digging skeletons out of cupboards, taking interviews of our politicians on specific issues, organizing 'Hard Talk' shows, live telecasting our own version of Big Fights etc. Details of answers given by our politicians on various common issues, relevant Assembly or Parliamentary Debates should be promptly published in the front pages of newspapers so that people are made aware of who they are voting for or what and how their elected representatives are doing. Indeed, our media should assume such a social responsibility, but with objectivity and moral uprightness. If Newspapers like the New York Times or the Washington Times can take an active role in disseminating the views of Bush or Kerry much before elections, why can't our own 'Imphal Free Press' or 'Sangai Express' do it too!

I do admit that many of my suggestions here may be too theoretical or conceptual, but again, a good idea, if badly implemented, no longer remains a good idea. I do firmly believe that our voluntary organizations and our media can certainly bring about a sea change in our political scenario - may not in the same way I have suggested, but perhaps with suitable modifications and safeguards here and there. The greatest challenge may lie - one, in ensuring the 'apolitical entity' status of our voluntary organizations and two, in bringing proper co-ordination amongst all the voluntary organizations. I also know that many of the suggestions given above might not completely fall in line with the amount of freedom allowed to the politicians in Manipur (if not in violation of it), but again, time is running out fast for Manipur and some amount of 'arm twisting' of our politicians might do wonders. Perhaps this is the only way to make Manipur - 'a better place' to live in.

The bottom line should be that if there is politics in Manipur, it should be a purely issue based one and candidates should be elected on the basis of the views they hold on issues, rather than on basis of the amount of money they distribute amongst the voters. Let us be ruthless with our politicians because they have been ruthless with us for decades and now, it is a high time we turn a new leaf on the annals of our history and change it for all times to come and together, we can do it.