Damning admission on corruption : Yet to enter electoral politics
- Sangai Express Editorial :: December 05 , 2013 -

The Aam Aadmi Party under Arvind Kejriwal entering the electoral battle on the anti-corruption slogan for the election to the Delhi State Legislative Assembly.

Chief Secretary of Manipur, Mr PC Lawmkunga mincing no words in admitting that there is large scale corruption amongst the bureaucrats in Manipur, during an exclusive talk with The Sangai Express on the eve of the election to the Delhi Assembly.

Miles apart between Imphal and Delhi. One a political party banking on the anti-corruption slogan to win the voters over and the other the top civil servant of a State admitting large scale corruption in the Babudom.

In a sense, not much in common yet the common thread that runs through the two cannot be missed, which is corruption.

A pan India endemic given the fact that Transparency International ranked India at 172 in the list of least corrupt Nations across the world.

Whether the Aam Aadmi Party manages to capitalise on the anti-corruption card and reap dividends is something which will be known only when the vote count starts, but already, Chief Secretary PC Lawmkunga has given a damning statement on how the scourge of corruption has eaten into the vitals of the Government and society.

Candid as he was, he fell short of naming some of the officials who have supposedly been nailed on corruption charges as well as put a finger on the corruption scale of 1 to 10.

Yet his admission that there is widespread corruption amongst the bureaucrats should be more than indicative of how deep rooted this malaise has become.

Here is the top ranked civil servant bringing the level of corruption in the corridors of power to the public domain, but corruption has never been an issue in the world of electoral politics in Manipur so far.

Yet corruption continues to dominate public discourse at any given opportunity, with everyone going hammer and tongs against this menace.

No political party has been voted to power on the issue of corruption and no political party has been voted out of power on the issue of corruption in the post Statehood history of Manipur.

It is this irony that is both surprising and disappointing. Perhaps it would help if some research scholars were to conduct an in-depth study to understand this contradiction.

Mr PC Lawmkunga did say that as the Chief Secretary he is here to protect honest officials and nail the dishonest and corrupt officials.

In the same breathe he maintained that the anti-corruption cell such as the Vigilance Department has been activated.

Does this then mean that prior to his appointment as the Chief Secretary of the State, the anti-corruption cells of the State Government have been lying defunct ?

A question worth raising and while it can be concluded safely that no answer would be forthcoming, a response, any response to this question would be extremely interesting and significant. Public responsibility.

Yes the public too have a huge responsibility in curbing the growing menace of corruption, but it should not be forgotten that corruption as a menace does not ascend but descend.

That is, it comes from the top and percolates down to the bottom. Overlooking this fact would amount to passing the buck to the public.

Time to address the issue of corruption with all the seriousness it deserves.

Now that it has come from the horse’s mouth, it should not stop here.

As for the political leaders, The Sangai Express has till date not yet got the opportunity to confront them with this issue, but it would take only a sightless man not to be able to read their hands in the admission of the Chief Secretary.

A political party in Delhi has already made corruption their calling card.

It would be interesting if any of the political parties here make this issue central in their election campaign and more interesting would be to see the response of the people to this call.