Road to the Assembly : Social worker to MLA
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 23 2011 -

This was said a long time back and its significance is gaining currency as each day brings us closer to the next Assembly election, which is most likely to be held in February next year.

Former Chief Minister, former PWD Minister, former leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the Assembly and present MLA of Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency and leader of the Opposition, Radhabinod Koijam may have had his own political reasons for ridiculing the notion that any moneyed guy has it in him to contest the election and in the process become some sort of a political neta.

Maybe the seasoned politician made this observation in the face of the growing challenges over his hold in the said Constituency by some rich contractors or business- men, but whatever the factors may be, the truth of his observation will surely stand the test of time and fire.

What was not said so overtly or clearly is the point that prior to the moneyed man donning the robe of the political leader, he first has to get baptised as a social worker.

In other words, the road to the State Assembly can be mapped out as, earn money which is the first step, distribute kerosene or rice or dal to the neighbourhood to be crowned a social worker and then take the road to the election and if elected become a political leader.

Sounds simple enough and while no one can be accused of having a political ambition, the route that has been mapped out to reach the Assembly reeks of something very rotten.

Anyone traversing through such a rotten route cannot be expected to come out unscatched from the rot that he had to encounter on his journey to the august House and when two or more such travellers book their way to the Assembly, then we can only expect stink and more stink to come wafting out.

Seen in this context, Mr Koijam had a solid point and the disturbing thing is this trend is not unique to Thangmeiband Assembly Constituency but in all the 60 ACs. Money is then the first thing that one needs to become a political leader, then comes the time for wooing the people by donning the garb of a social worker and then finally comes the baptism by contesting the election !

What Mr Koijam forgot or deliberately overlooked was the question of when and how money came to be such a defining denominator in deciding who gets elected or whose gets booted out from the electoral race ?

A sincere answer will lie in the fact that the rich and moneyed contractors and businessmen merely cosied up to a system which has already been there in the first place and herein lies the multi-million dollar question of who or what started this ugly practise ?

No one will come forward to declare that this system is his or her brainchild, but suffice it to say that the role of money is not something new and it has been there from the first day that Manipur attained Statehood.

This could be one reason why there is the misplaced belief that money is a dirty word or it could be due to a very, very clever move initiated by the very set of people who have already made their share of money and do not want others to earn and be bracketed along with them in the economic hierarchy !

Election is still a good 6 or 7 months away but the stake is high and so is the return and this explains why an election which is still a couple of months away should start generating interest so early and so much. A departure from the earlier times when election fever started catching up much later, we may say.

Behind each and every rich contractor/supplier/businessman turned “social worker waiting in the wings political leader,” stands a guru, who may come in the form of the present Netas, political leaders or some with money and muscle power. In other words, for the well “established political leaders” who have seen it all and tasted it all, merely winning from their Assembly Constituency is no longer enough.

Ambition knows no bound and it is the murky, wheeling dealing world of politics which render ambition a dirty word. It is there in the open. For anyone to become a super, duper political leaders of good standing, then it is imperative that he or she has the capability to field his or her own hand picked candidates in some Constituency and party loyalty be damned.

Such picked, privileged, wannabe political leader are usually fielded against someone who has the capability to challenge another well entrenched political figure, never mind whether they belong to the same political party or not. This is what is known as politics as understood in today's Manipur.

As in war, everything may be said to be fair in politics too and the sudden emergence of numerous social workers all over the 60 Assembly Constituencies of Manipur can be attributed to the prevalence of such a political culture. Mr Koijam said it right, no doubt about it, but it is not enough to leave it at that.

A new political revolution is called for at this moment and though wishing away the influence of money power may turn out to be a pipe dream, a beginning has to be made now and not later.

For one, it is important to identify the hands behind each and every single social worker who comes seeking the blessings of the voters and then decide whether it is for the good of all to strengthen the hand which is the support beam.

As always the challenge is before the people and it would be suicidal to leave this to the hands of the politicians whose reputations precede them.