Making a mockery of a real menace
- Imphal Times Editorial :: August 30 2020 -

The issue of drugs abuse has always been a problem threatening the society for a long time now and there is no visible solution at hand at present, nor is a belief for one in the foreseeable future.

Despite the much touted slogan of “War against Drug” by the Biren-led coalition government, the ground reality cannot be denied.

Drugs worth hundreds of crores continue to be seized on a regular basis, with a large number of these seizures turning out to involve either security personnel or politicians and other public figures.

And it has been well documented that other than suspension of duty or short stint of imprisonment of a few small fries who are made scapegoats, there has not been any stringent punishment or severe punitive actions against the kingpins in recent public memory.

For a leader who can react with unbelievable alacrity and severity to a simple post on social media against his policies, it remains a mystery as to the reasons for the inability to pressure the state as well as security forces to nab the big players who are funding and dealing in drugs.

There is every indication that the well-connected and flushed drugs cartels in the state are operating with impunity using security forces and political public figures more often than the public could imagine.

There are also a large number of villages in the hills and remote places in the state openly cultivating wide swathes of poppies and marijuana plants nobody could fail to notice travelling to these places.

The magnitude and severity of the practice may be gauged from the petition to the Prime Minister written by Ashang Kasar, Ex-MP candidate of II Outer (ST) Parliamentary Constitution Manipur on the 26th of this month highlighting the rampant cultivation of poppy plants which has destroyed many lives and the danger of generations being destroyed has become increasingly real.

The letter also adds that the state government has become totally helpless in the war against drugs as elected members and the law enforcing agencies are from time to time proved to have involved in the illegal trade.

There cannot be a greater irony in the recent administrative history of the state than that of the Manipur Congress MLA, Whose Drug Case Involvement BJP Had Made a Poll Issue, being welcomed with open arms by the Saffron Party, while a lady police officer who showed exemplary courage and dedication to duty in nabbing an elected public figure with a huge amount of drugs and arms in his possession has been slapped with a ‘contempt of court’ case against her instead of recognizing her efforts and bestowing rewards as promised umpteen times by the chief minister with much emphasis and convincing rhetoric.

On August 13, the BJP-led government had also handed out the chief minister’s gallantry award to a policeman who had been caught with drugs.

The case is still on. With All Manipur Students Union demanding a probe into the matter, the government, in a swift face saving exercise, suspended the officer and withdrew his award.

The comedy of errors is most likely to continue with the state government continuing to put its foot in its mouth time and again, for it has been made evidently clear that there is a serious lack of faculty for learning from mistakes, past and recent, nor the political will to walk the talk.

Meanwhile, the menace of drugs has once again reared its vicious head in the state, and if things continue unchecked, we will be experiencing the dark times of the early eighties when drug abuse became a social disaster.

Hopefully the state government could prove this piece wrong.