The opposition eats crow in the IMC polls
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: June 01 2011 -
THE IMC polls are over, and to no one’s surprise the Congress has risen head and shoulders above the entire opposition. The final declaration of results showed that of the 27 wards in contention, the Congress won in 14, 8 went to independent candidates, 2 to the NCP, one each to the CPI, Trinamool Congress and the BJP.
The MPP does not even appear in the picture frame. Either it had cross tied its shoe laces just before the race and tripped heavily, or it bolted in the opposite direction, one is not sure, but it definitely did not arrive at the finish line.
There will be generalisations and there will be hair splitting dissections within the MPP leadership to explain its scary non performance and one is confident that the brilliantly lit minds of its leaders will finally explain to one and all why its picture did not appear in the group photograph.
Now back to the score board. Applying the basic laws of physics, the eight independent will surely be pulled in by the gravitational force of the bigger mass, ie the Congress. Some mavericks might veer off in a tangential orbit but they will be doomed to wander without purpose.
Of the remaining five councillors. NCP-2, TMC-1, CPI-1 are all partners in the UPA government in the centre. That leaves the sole BJP councillor to act as the real opposition.
Before the plot of the ensuing drama of the formation of the IMC has been revealed, we already know that the BJP has been allotted the role of a caricature.
Nobody will hear it squeak, it will only be a plaintive cry in the political wilderness. The MPP will of course be permitted to remonstrate outside the IMC compound.
Turning our attention to the dreary track of the opposition stalking the Congress lest it misuses, abuses or pockets JNNRUM funds, if their worst fears turn out to be true, they will now be reduced to bystanders watching the Congress count the money.
Perhaps the opposition will be tolerated to gnash and grind their teeth or at the most chew on their knuckles, but that will be about all, Fair is fair, and all is fair in love and war. With the general election looming the Congress on its part, one assumes, on behalf of the general populace, will act and produce results through the IMC.
One final glance is required at the opposition. The MPP president had pleaded to the public to bear for just a short while before the Congress edifice crumbles. Since this has turned out to be a false alarm what is the misery ridden MPP to do. Talks of forming an alternative government after the general election is now a remote possibility.
Worse, the opposition had pulled out all its stops in the IMC polls, and as such, talking to them of the coming general election now might be wrongfully construed as picking a fight.
We do not wish to be like Thomson and Thompson, the goofing cops in the Tintin books, asking a person to admit his guilt to a crime without really explaining the supposed crime.
But we have the leeway to ask the MPP to admit that its fundamental understanding of the political reality in Manipur is at the flattering best confused and convoluted.
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