Post Jan 11 : Dramatic U turn ? Politics of crackdown
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 28, 2013 -

Amazing and dramatic. It is the dramatic part that one should be wary of.

From the manner in which the Special Intelligence Unit was so unceremoniously dumped after the January 11 drug seizure at Tulihal airport to the arrest of an Army officer while travelling in a vehicle packed with psychotropic drugs to the arrest of the son of an MLA, the State Government seems to be conveying the message that it has made a U turn from the January 11 episode.

Maybe not a complete U turn, but the message that is being sought to be conveyed is unmistakable.

Top this off with the recent decision adopted by the Cabinet to hand over all drug seizure related cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation and suddenly it is all about drugs and drugs.

The impact on public opinion has indeed been profound but this is what the public should be wary about, for politics can and will take nasty turns and twists.

The politics of training the gun on one to take off the heat from the other/s is not a remote impossibility and the feel good factor that seems to have enveloped the people over the developments in the last few days should not blind the people to the real issue at hand.

So far there is nothing to suggest that the identity/identities of the owner/owners of the drugs seized at Pallel is/are likely to be disclosed soon.

In all probability the six persons hauled up at Pallel were not much more than carriers, who may not exactly know the real identity/identities of the owner/owners of the drug consignments.

The potential of a high profile drug seizure, such as the Pallel incident, to sideline another equally or even more important case, such as the January 11 drug seizure at Tulihal airport is also extremely high.

The possibility of such a politics being enacted on the turf of Manipur cannot be ruled out. And this is what the various civil society organisations which have come together to launch an anti-drug campaign should not lose sight of.

The suggestions put forth by the legislature wing leader of the State Trinamul Congress unit, MLA Dr I Ibohalbi to rope in the Central Narcotics Bureau to probe cases of drug seizure is significant.

In all probability the State Government will sit on this suggestion and ignore it altogether for the likelihood of skeletons tumbling out from the corridors of power is extremely high.

The acts of the police in recent days should no doubt be acknowledged and appreciated, but in the process, this should not blind the people to the possibility of the politics of selective crackdown being launched at the directives of the powers that be.

Influential, powerful and ruthless. This is the thumb rule in all things involving shady dealings, and nowhere is this more clearly manifested than in the world of drug cartels or the network of drug barons.

Money, this is the driving force behind all drug dealings and with money comes unbridled power and influence, particularly political influence and of course muscle power as well.

Manipur has witnessed numerous cases of drugs being seized, but the one question that has never been answered is the identity of the people actually running the show.

So far it has been more a case of arresting the carriers rather than cracking down on the network or the cartel.

Why this is so should not be too difficult to understand and it is this question which should egg on the anti-drug campaign launched by numerous civil society organisations.

It will also be interesting to see how the Opposition takes up this issue when the Assembly convenes.