Cong on slippery ground in the hill districts : Issues dogging the State
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 08 2016 -
ILP or a similar mechanism to check the inflow of non-local people into the State and the strong protest against the three Bills passed by the State Assembly last year on August 31. District demand and the voice of opposition against it.
The demand that Meiteis/Meeteis be included in the Scheduled Tribe list of the Constitution of India and the opposition to this demand.
Clearly the task ahead of the Government is laid out and it is not going to be easy to deal with any of the demands mentioned here.
And remember the Framework Agreement signed between the Government of India and the NSCN (IM) last year and the strong stand that the territorial integrity of Manipur should not be compromised at all.
True the State Government does not have any say on the peace talk underway between the two entities, but this is still a very sensitive issue here, particularly with the demand raised for separate administration for the hill districts.
It is amid these demands that the State will go in for election in the early part of next year.
Apart from the territorial integrity of the State, where all political parties seem to have come together, what is the stand of all the political parties on the other issues mentioned earlier ?
Will be interesting to see what they have to say on this matter, particularly on the demand that the Meiteis be included in the ST list of the Constitution of India.
Clearly Chief Minister O Ibobi and his men must be a worried lot for all these issues will certainly impact on the ensuing Assembly election.
Just how tactfully the Government deals with these issues will go a long way on how the voters vote and this is where the Congress seems to be on slippery ground in the hill districts.
The bodies of the nine people killed at Churachandpur in the protest against the three Bills last year are still lying in state and to be sure the lifeless bodies can be used as the rallying point for anti-Congress votes.
In the Naga dominated districts too, the Chief Minister and the Congress stand boycotted with all the Congress MLAs ex-communicated.
It is the same in all the hill districts, particularly Churachandpur, where the Congress stands boycotted.
These points certainly do not bode well for the Congress party and it will be interesting to see how it goes ahead with the task of wooing the voters.
At the same time it is also important to ask whether the ‘ex- communicated’ stand has actually found merit with the common people or whether this has been foisted on them.
The result of the election will reflect this to a large extent.
Interesting time for the people and political watchers, but certainly not for the Government and this is something which the other political parties, particularly the BJP will try to capitalise on.
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