If press is presstitute then how about them ? Shameless ! Shameless !
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 29 2017 -

If the press is infamously referred to as ‘presstitute’ then what term should one use while referring to the party hoppers, who have no qualms about switching sides, even after they are elected ?

A classic example of eating breakfast as X, having lunch as Y and eating dinner as Z. This observation is important in the face of the manner in which a number of Congress MLAs have decided to switch side to the BJP.

Naturally the BJP will welcome such MLAs for their ultimate goal is to reduce the Congress to a non-entity in the North East and Manipur but how can one explain and condone the behaviour of these MLAs who do not think twice about switching sides, despite the stringent anti-defection law ?

As things stand today, six MLAs who were elected on the Congress ticket have switched sides to the BJP and while this is definitely to the advantage of the BJP, such party hopping will leave a bad taste in the mouth of the observer.

A clear indication that to these MLAs nothing matter more than power and perk that come along with supping with the party that is in power.

It however stands that there is also so much they could have done by being responsible members of the Opposition. This is what is sickening and extremely hard to digest.

Not only have they revealed their true colours, but in the process they have also taken their supporters and the voters who voted for them for a ride.

Sure there may be some side kicks who may have encouraged them to switch side to be near the centre of power, but ultimately politics is about the long run and is definitely not a 10 metre sprint.

While it stands that the BJP seems poised to repeat their 2014 performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, this should have made it all the more reason for the Congressmen to stick to their party so that they may at least give a good fight when Parliamentary election comes.

And with 28 Congress candidates originally getting elected, they were definitely well placed to give a good fight to the BJP when Parliamentary election comes.

If the 28 original Congress MLAs had stood their ground then they would have been well placed to mobilise their supporters when the Lok Sabha election comes.

Moreover this would have stood them in good stead in the sense that if they manage to get a Congress or two Congress candidates elected as MPs they would have been counted well in the political context of the country.

Obviously to these MLAs, Manipur does not count in their scheme of things at all. What Manipur needs today is a strong and effective Opposition.

Maybe the Congress MLAs who have defected to the BJP have not learnt any lesson from the previous Government, when the Congress literally had no Opposition and could bull doze its way through.

How effective a Government is, rest to a large extent on how effective the Opposition is but unfortunately this bare fact has blown over the heads of the defectors.

If the press may be called the ‘presstitute’ what term shall the people use to refer to them ?