The Ominous Sign and Election Promises
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: December 30, 2011 -
Satyajit Usham from the desk
If the recent and the not so recent spate of violent incidents, charges and counter charges involving trigger-happy Ministers, MLAs, aspiring candidates and their supporters as well as sycophants are of any indication to the 'firework' that one is expected to witness in the ensuing elections to the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly, democracy in Manipur is in real danger.
Though elections and violence have always been considered synonymous in Indian democracy, it has been more in the nature of sparring among the supporters of rival political parties and candidates in case of Manipur.
But this time round, Manipur is not likely to be any different from other volatile states of the country like Bihar, UP, West Bengal, etc, where electoral deaths, pre as well as post, are something not uncommon, and there have been enough foreboding signs of the things to come in Manipur too.
Even before the announcement of poll schedule by the Election Commission of India on December 24, many incidents of election-related violence have surfaced in different parts of the state including the infamous Thoubal Moijing flare up between BJP and Congress supporters.
With a brand new brigade of political wannabes joining the fray this time, the heat is expected to be generated even more. In such an event, we could only hope and pray that the people of Manipur would not be wasting their precious energy over some failed causes.
With the D-day fast approaching, political parties have started coming out with election manifestos and promises of what they would be doing if elected to power.
Looking at the myriad issues besetting the state for long, we could safely conclude that most of these political parties would be harping on the same old issues like the public demand for repealing Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958; uprooting corruption; solving unemployment problem, infrastructural development, resolving insurgency problem through political dialogue and so on and so forth.
All these promises sound, at the most, promising and nothing more, just like the assurance of ensuring electric supply for 18 hours daily in Manipur, where enjoying even two hours of uninterrupted power supply during any part of the day or night is something of a luxury.
Come on, Give us a break!! Repealing the controversial Army Act which gives sweeping power to security forces, combating corruption, unemployment and infrastructural development, etc are all very well.
We admit that. But the question is what have they been doing for these issues all these years?
Instead of making such fantastic promises, which may find no taker, political parties should understand that there is a whole gamut of issues that call for immediate attention.
Why there is long queue in front of all petrol pumps even after a month of lifting the economic blockade and why the prices of essential commodities have remained stuck higher than their tall promises?
If any of the political parties have answers to these questions, we too can promise that their poll success is a foregone conclusion.
Period.
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