Is Ibobi Shaktiman ?

Annabelle Sharma *

People going to the poll on Election Day in Imphal :: January 28 2012 :: Pix - Banti Phurailatpam

Hello friends, beginning today, I will be writing a column for this esteemed daily and will try to start a frank dialogue with you, the readers, over wide ranging issues that have dogged us. For a long time, we have evaded the real pressing issues facing Manipur behind the veneer of being nice. I say, kick the niceties, bring in the gutsiness. If the current state of our affairs is not kind to us, we should respond in a similar manner: ruthlessly in a cold manner. We should have the audacity to drag out the skeletons from wherever they are without fear and favour and pin the responsibilities on the people accountable for them. We should not be afraid of naming names and attacking the sacred cows of power—be it a Chief Minister or a blue-eyed bureaucrat.

I think the youths of today need a voice, a voice of reason. The old guards, mired in the retrogressive mindset, has presided over the fate of this State without feeling the pulse of the youths, who are more educated and have stepped into a world increasingly becoming a global village, where merit and talent are the only currencies for gaining respect and proving one's worth.

Unfortunately, our leaders have not recognised this new reality and are still trying to impose their writ on us with a contempt and impunity that is characteristic of feudal and authoritarian regimes. And after every five years, the hapless people queue in line to cast their votes to bring back and legitimise the same dispensation of pseudo leaders to power and who once elected play around with our individual destiny and that of the State. How conveniently we forgot that we bought the LPG refills for Rs 2000 and a litre of petrol for Rs.250. We quickly forgive the government that brought upon us this grotesque nightmare selling away our conscience at the hustings for a sum of few hundreds. This voters' behaviour reflects poor understanding of economics resulting in our penny wise pound foolish actions.

I am not the first one to be dismayed. The educated youths have expressed disgust and a feeling of helplessness in varieties of platforms. Only they are not heard, or are ignored.

If you want to really tap into the general sense of disgruntlement among the educated youths of Manipur, one way to do so is to visit their favourite place on earth: the Facebook. This is what I did when the results to the 10th General Assembly Elections were being declared on 6th March, 2012. It was palpable that a majority of the netizens were hungry for change and expectations were high that the results would throw up an alternative to the government in power at that time.

www.e-pao.net hosted the online update of the elections results in Facebook and began its postings from 8 o'clock in the morning when the fates of the candidates being sealed inside the EVM were beginning to be unveiled as the counting of votes started.

As E-Pao Manipur flashed the much awaited election results and trends, the Manipuri Facebook users, whose typical profile is a student or a young employee in a private company outside the State, started pouring out their hopes and worst fears. I am reproducing some of their online comments below for a perspective into how the educated youths view the electoral politics in Manipur. Please be warned that these are highly candid outbursts of the netizens in a social networking website and may lack subtlety, which is why they are being highlighted in this column for they capture the true uncensored raw sentiments of a section of a youth population. Names of the commentators are being withheld to protect their identities though they could be easily ascertained from Facebook page of epao for 06/03/2012.

* Huranba mayamse mathang mathang potharakadi nungainidaaaaaa
(I wish all these thieves lose one after another)

* Contractor nina paisa chaaba haabi-jaabidi heidou mallihe!
(Being a contractor, he would soon adapt to corrupt ways)

* Thabk changbage.. handak si paisa kaya lougae haidoi jatno.. double rate laktoijatla .. vote ta paisa mangba fukatpage..
(I wonder what would be the going rate for getting a job this time. Will the rate be doubled to recover the loss during election?)

* No upai for people of manipur.. people of manipur di sen yendaba candidate tu angaobni haina hainaba lamdamni... sen khwaidagi yenbduna kare haibse resultsingsina fajana takle... natrabdii ahongba ama ugadabni..
(There is no hope for the people of Manipur. It is a State where candidates not resorting to bribing the voters are considered crazy. It is quite clear from the results that the candidates spending the most on buying voters have got elected)

As news trickled in that Congress candidates are winning in a majority of A/Cs, a sense of doom fell in the cyber world. Comments were passed for and against the INC, with the anti-incumbency factor coming to the fore. Here are some samples:

* Upai leite mayamna chinda pamnadaba congress thamoi nungdadi congress muk nungshiba leipotte madugee sakhi haibu kariba mayamshini upai leite congress na adum sar kar paiba tabani
(People pay lip service merely pretending to hate the Congress party while in reality there is no other party as beloved as the Congress party in their heart. No wonder, Congress will definitely form the government. No doubt about it).

* Disgust ! people of manipur... anybody can buy people of Manipur with d power of money..... manipur machasing uful adum chakhisi.... leikhom adum kumgisi... mei adum mangkhisi
(...Manipuri people, you will eat dust, waddle through mud, live in darkness)

* Congress nataba atopa amana sarkar pairaga free da thabak hapkadoubei typeta...
(You are rumbling as if a non-congress government will offer you jobs on a platter for free)

* Loire dana twrisidi......... Assasination twbna farani bu !
(It's all over. Assassination is the better option!)

* Seems like its a Match Fixing.................

* EVM was just a fake.

At 12:49pm, E-Pao Manipur shared a headline from CNN-IBN:
Manipur polls: Congress on a hat-trick, set to retain power- A clear lead for the Congress in Manipur. Congress is likely to return to power with Chief Minister Ibobi Singh on way to a hat-trick.

A flurry of comments came on the possibility of Congress forming the next government with Shri Okram Ibobi Singh as the Chief Minister for the third term. What is interesting was the perceived sense of unfair treatment at the alleged disproportionate distribution of wealth and development projects in favour of Thoubal district. This sentiment was echoed in the following comments implying widespread cynicism at the prospect of status quo.

* Handak Manipur 5 year plan da Thoubal to Khangabok METRO chellage hairani tourisidi.
(It is likely that during the next Manipur 5 Year Plan, a Metro train service from Thoubal to Khangabok may well be a possibility)

* Imphal car tongba budi thoubal hambar tongba amana paiba yam helle cre wari ngaktani moidi
(The joke doing the rounds in Thoubal is that a bike rider in Thoubal is far richer than a car owner in Imphal)

* Taibi gunmen khanba hanthase....nongmie paiba yammandana..ngaore...pen paiba...kalam paiba thabak ta oina mai onshinbiyu...
(Dear Taibi, the excessive number of gunmen has freaked us out. Please reduce their recruitment and focus more on creating pen wielding white collar jobs)

* Taibi train lambi thuna loisallo national highways thuna loisallo aduga hantak mukka blockade toura di loina kapkhai yu ko, rainy season lak tri kan da lambi thong loisallo, fake encounter su toura gumsi ko taibi
(Dear Taibi finish the railway project quickly, improve the National Highways soon and should another spell of blockade occur, deal with them with an iron hand. Before the onset of monsoon, complete building of roads and bridges, and dear Taibi please ensure there is no more fake encounter again)

* Taibi votesu karabanina ngasigi numitsidi mei fajana lakhanbiyuba
(Dear Taibi, now that you have won the election, please ensure there is electricity in my house for at least today)

Eikhoina phana thamoi tengthaduna leirasu upai leite. taibi na adum shaktimaan oirani.
(However much we rue it, Taibi is destined to be Shaktiman)

* Matic chaba CM leite IBOBI natana Manipurda aduine maym sao yade
(Please don't mind but there is no one who is qualified to be the CM other than Ibobi)

When Epao Manipur announced the result of Wangkhei A/C which witnessed the pitched battle between O.Henry and Yumkham Erabot, arch rival of the CM, the mood was one of jubilation and hope. Y. Erabot won. It was clear that he was the favourite among the netizens for the post of Chief Minister.

* Will call him a super hero if I'm asked to mention one.

* Imphal da chief minister amuk ta thamse, thoubal capital oikhidwre, imphal capital ne haibadoh khang oidwre mathang generation gi angang mayamda.. Irabot would knw...
(Let us make someone from Imphal the Chief Minister. Thoubal is becoming the capital of the State. Imphal risks being forgotten by the next generation as the State Capital. Erabot would know..)

* Change is a nature......!!! tired of driving Maruti 800 everyday.....wanna drive Hyundai i20....which have best features. Likewise we need (to) change our CM.......let's hope we have better and more sophisticated person (like) "Yumkham Erabot Singh".......let's upgrade our state.

* Honesty is the only word synonymous with Yumkham Erabot!! 99.99% chance that he is the CM!! Kudos..!!

* Irabot na CM gi chance amukta piraga Manipur se kayam yamna ahongba purakbage haido amukta yangninge, thao litre da 250 youba, thao gi Q 10km youna lenghanba CM di matam khara pothahanse..
(Give Erabot a chance to be the CM and see what changes he can bring for the State. Let the CM who presided over the price rise of petrol @ Rs 250 per litre and got us standing in queue for 10 kms for the same take a rest.)

When the results of the all the 60 A/Cs were out with Congress bagging a record 42 seats, E-pao Manipur posed the question: 'Are you happy with the 10th Assembly Election Results of Manipur?' Some replies:

* Whatever happened happens for a good reason. Hope Mr. Ibobi and his party should realise the basic problems of the poverty stricken Manipur.

* The people of Manipur has lost all their "rights" to criticize the government and the political circle. The same government ruling for the past 10 years is going ahead with another term, despite their failure and suffering ( it caused) to the state.. Sadly, but true, we the public are equally corrupt.

* Our problem is not the govt.. it's Ibobi Singh. Change in leadership will help.

* I will not single out Ibobi for the failure of the State, he hold his position with the support of other elected representatives, which all together form the government. If the other representative(s) of people have even a little bit of conscience, I don't think Ibobi (or any other political member) will 'toy' with public like as has happened in the current situation. Likewise the public brought forward the same representative(s) to power. So I'm not really sure who is at fault. The stupid public watering this evil government or this evil government drying up the State?

Conclusion:

The widespread cynicism among the youths of the Manipur regarding the current leadership is quite evident. However, this has not translated into electoral gains for the opposition parties. Two star legislators—Shri O.Joy Singh of MPP and Shri Radhabnod Koijam of NCP—in the opposition bench lost. Political analysts say that the inability of the non-congress parties to capitalise on the indignation of the people against the Congress party is because they do not inspire much confidence and do not hold out a promise of forming n alternative viable and stable government.

Past experience has shown that a small state like Manipur with no political and economic muscle to flex to influence and extract concessions from New Delhi will fall into a further disadvantaged position if its government is led by a party different from the one in power at the Centre. This weighed heavily in the way people voted and resulted in voting back to power the government they hated. Memories of unpaid salary bills for months on end still persist in the minds of the government employees during the term of non-Congress government.

What is surprising is that we have conveniently brushed aside the inhumane episodes of blockades, price rise, fake encounters, corruption, continuous imposition of ASFPA and lawlessness that were at their zenith during the 10 years of Congress rule. As one commentator said, "the problem is not the government, it's the leadership." Well, that is a sentiment most youths share and will get pronounced as Yumkham Erabot, the original Hero of Manipur, is being marginalised by the current Government and we are being denied a golden opportunity for a change. Seems there is no place for a sincere and clean politician, who was the voice of opposition even while in the Government as the opposition parties forgot their role trying to get favours from the ruling party.

Meanwhile the same story of misgovernance and corruption is likely to continue for another 5 more years even as Thoubal becomes the new capital.

Stay tuned for more voices of reason.