Delhi impact on the poll result : Not mere speculations
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 17, 2012 -

The Chief Minister flanked by his first three men team on March 16 2012 - Pix :: TSE

The tasks before the new Government should be clear, or is the term 'new Government' a misnomer, since it is nothing much more than old wine in new bottle ?

If this is the case then would be it futile to expect some changes in the approach to the various issues confronting the people ?

Or simply put, are these very questions an exercise in futility, something like shooting in the dark ?

If the people of Uttar Pradesh can be said to have voted against the statue obsession of the BSP chief, Mayawati, then did the people of Manipur vote for a party which lorded over the record breaking 121 days economic blockade, inaugurated a multi-purpose project called the Khuga Dam without the power component, oversaw the BT Road incident of July 23, 2009, let the people enjoy the three or maybe six hours of power supply in a day, or did they vote for a party which provided them greater confidence than all the others taken together ?

Whichever way one looks at it, the tasks before the Congress Government should be clear. It cannot be an extension of SPF II. For one, this time it is the Congress alone which has formed the Government and this is a significant shift from the last ten years, in so far as the composition of the parties in the ruling front can be understood.

Apart from going it alone, the Congress party need to seriously look into itself and see how so many things went so much wrong in the last ten years. Getting blinded by the massive mandate would not only be suicidal for the party but for the land and the people.

This is an important point that should register in the mind of the Chief Minister and all the Congress legislators. As for the 18 who will sit on the Opposition bench, not being on the ruling side does not mean that they have been rendered toothless.

Far from it, they need to understand that the presence of a strong and effective Opposition is necessary in a democracy. The result of the just held election should be the lesson.

Can the election in Manipur or rather the result of the election here be seen in isolation of what happened in the four other States that went to polls simultaneously ?

In Uttar Pradesh, it was a drubbing for the Congress with the same script following in Punjab. In Goa it did no better while in Uttarakhand it managed to eke out a wafer thin majority to form the Government. However it is interesting to note the fact that of the 32 elected Congress MLAs, 15 preferred to stay away from the swearing in ceremony.

It was only in Manipur where the Congress steamrolled its way to power.

Manipur, like the other North East States, barring perhaps Assam, has always remained on the mental fringes of Delhi or mainland India but the interesting part is while Manipur does not count for much in the electoral/political calculation during Parliamentary elections, the result in the rest of the country invariably impacts heavily on the politics of Manipur.

This is where the observation of some analysts that the Congress did so well this time because the UPA coalition led by the party in Delhi is in power cannot be written off that easily.

Political pundits, and there are a dime a dozen in the country, had dubbed the Assembly elections in the five States as some sort of a semi-final to the 2014 Parliamentary election and if this can be taken without a pinch of salt, then maybe the power equation in Delhi may change two years hence.

This is where another big test awaits the Congress Government in Manipur. If the past is any indication then such an observation would not amount to reckless speculation at the stock exchange.