Public is good

By:- Heigrujam Nabashyam *

Another round of highway drama has begun forcing the tired and the hapless public to pay for yet another act – made on the considered opinion and wisdom of its 8 years of experience in governance of the SPF government. The Manipur (Hill Areas) District Councils Act, 2008 – MDC Act, 2008 – which the civil society organizations, students organizations and etc. alleged to have "imposed on the people" fails to "ensure and protect the interest of the hill people".

And therefore to 'nullify' the act and to "stop enforcement of the Act" on the hill people the unified organizations have to resort to the highway blockade so that the Ibobi Singh government would listen to them.

It is interesting to observe that the Hill Area Committee (HAC) of the Manipur Legislative Assembly whose members consist solely of the MLAs elected from the hill districts maintain an amusing silence on the protest, maybe fear of vote. It may be remembered that before the Assembly passed the bill, which eventually became the act – MDC Act, 2008 – it was the HAC committee which had approved the Bill. Truth is without the prior approval of the HAC no bill which would deal with the affairs of the hill areas are not placed in the Assembly for vote.

As for the SPF government, since the members of the HAC do not raise any question against the Act, it is not a problem which would threaten the government. Therefore for the Ibobi Singh government the problem is to be dealt proxy by the HAC members – the twenty MLAs ; and for the highways the police and commando would escort the trucks etc. However for a solution the chief minister dangles the "Rs. 100 crore" bait for the District Councils given by the Centre.

It is not my intention to question the wisdom of the government to implement the Act or otherwise but it is the way the public are forced to pay for the sheer irresponsible acts of the SPF government which has become a rule since it came into being. Quite interestingly in an effort to return to some semblance of normality in this free-for-all state of Manipur – a result of the SPF leadership's superb tactics of war against the "44 insurgent groups" and its politics of percentage and spoils, – the SPF government have embarked upon a very promising media initiative on "Peace Dividends".

But what was absurd was such a promising initiative came from officers of the government. Fact is, the issue of the peace dividends was political and it should have taken on the political level because such political initiative is neither ceremonial nor administrative.

However, a distinct feature of the SPF leadership is its marked inefficiency which not surprisingly, has resulted in serious erosion of authority, respect and credibility of the people's representatives – a commendable service of the Ibobi Singh government.

Needless to say, in a democracy it is not only expected but it is also a basic requirement for the good health of democratic institution – which is the key to all political issues – that there should be a political leadership who should channelize conflicting interests and ideas and make necessary move wherever and whenever necessary or should decide how a socio-political move be initiated.

However, much to the contrary and to the great dismay of the public the SPF leadership is often found to behave in sheer inappropriate and crass manner undoubtedly unbecoming of the high office for which instances are many. One such recent instance was while reacting to the quit notice to the non-Manipuris by an insurgent outfit the chief minister stated "If we drive them out, imagine what will happen to all those Manipuris studying or living in other cities, like Delhi. We must also think about them."

Now what is the intension of the chief minister to make such a nonsensical statement ? The CM O. Ibobi Singh could very well condemn the quit notice in the strongest term. He could very well perform his duty without painting the public in a poor light. But why should the chief minister want to involve the public in the activities of the insurgents? Is he guilty of collusion with the outfit in any way ?

Such uncalled-for and unwarranted statement from the man on top of the state's hierarchy is extremely unfortunate and condemnable; and such thing would do no good to anyone in any manner. It may not be out of context to remember that Sheila Dixit, the Delhi chief minister was reported to have reprimanded an MP from Manipur for making such unwarranted statement in similar spirit.

The incident was reported to have occurred when the MP was leading a delegation of northeast communities including students to protest against the cases of atrocities meted out to northeast communities living in Delhi.

And as for the poor public, a conservative assessment of the situation tells us that the public are not that bad for such a leadership; after all it is all a question of relativity.